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NEPHALEIA; 

OR 

TOTAL ABSTINENCE FROM INTOXICATING LIQUORS 

IN MAN'S NORMAL STATE OF HEALTH, 

THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE, 

IN A SERIES OF LETTERS, WITH ADDENDA, 

TO EDWARD C. DELAVAN, ESQ. 
(With Colored Plates of the Stomach, as affected by Strong Drink.) 




"Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it.'- — [Isaiah, chap. Ixv. v. 8. 



By JOHN MAIR, M. D., Edin. 

Extraordinary Member of the Royal Medical Society of Edinburgh; 

Staff Surgeon, 1st class (Half Pay), to Her Britannic 

Majesty's Army, 




/ publishers: 

New York— SHELDON & COMPANY. Boston— GOULD & LINCOLN. 

Philadelphia— J. B. LIPPENCOTT & Co. 

London, (Eng.)— TOULNER & Co. 

Montreal— JOHN DOUGALL. 

1861. 






Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year Eighteen Hundred and 

Sixty-One, 

BY CHARLES VAN BENTHUYSEN, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Northern 
District of New York. 



INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 



St. Catharines, C. W., September 18th, 1860. 
To Edward C. Delavan, Esq., Albany, N. Y. : 

My Dear Sir : Understanding that a brief biographical sketch of the esteemed 
author of the following letters (published under your auspices) was desired by 
you by way "of introduction, and having been requested to undertake this duty, 
it is with sincere pleasure that I comply. I can honestly say, that during a 
pastorate stretching over upwards of twelve years, (eight of which were spent 
in Kingston) I have never met with a more conscientious Christian, or a truer 
friend — a man of more disinterested benevolence, sterling integrity, and high- 
toned Christian principle, or one more disposed on the altar of religion and 
humanity, to present his body a living sacrifice. I can say this with greater 
confidence, because I do not go the doctor s length in certain departments of the 
Temperance question, though always cordially appreciating the strength and 
sincerity of his convictions, the purity of his motives, and the ability, energy 
and steady consistent perseverance, with which his somewhat unpalatable vieAvs 
have been advocated. 

Dr. Mair was born<in the city of Aberdeen, Scotland, 7th March, 1798. His 
father (a man of sound judgment, iron will, sterling worth and noble, independ- 
ent spirit,) was commander and part owner of vessels trading with North 
America. His mother (a meek, devout Christian woman) was daughter of 
Professor John Stewart, of Marischal college, Aberdeen, a most able and acute 
mathematician, and intimate friend of Dr. Thomas Keid, the celebrated meta- 
physician, and father of the ee Scotch Philosophy." Of the ability and worth 
of John Stewart, ample evidence is furnished in i( Reid s Life" of the re- 
nowned Dugald Stewart, and the last edition of his Works and Correspondence, 
by that prince of mental philosophers, recently deceased, Sir Wm. Hamilton. 
On the maternal side Dr. Mair is lineally descended from Sir John Stewart, 
brother to James, 7th Lord High Steward and grandfather to King Robert the 
lid of Scotland. Sir John commanded, a wing of Sir William Wallace's army 
at the memorable battle of Falkirk, where he fell covered with glory, A.D. 1298. 

The doctor's academical education was pursued at the time -honored univer- 
sity of which his grandfather had been an ornament. His degree of A. M. was 
obtained in 1815; that of M. D. at the University of Edinburgh in 1819. He 
became an Ordinary and Extraordinary Member of the Roj^al Medical Society 
of Edinburgh. He attended the celebrated schools, and walked some of the 
leading hospitals of London and Paris, perfecting his knowledge of his profes- 
sion. In the latter city he was a pupil of the distinguished Broussais. 

From 1821 till 1852, the long period of thirty-one years, he served as a 
medical officer in Her Britannic Majesty's army, reaching the rank of staff 
surgeon, first class. It was in 1847, on my settlement over Chalmers 5 Presby- 
terian Church, Kingston, I first became acquainted with Dr. Mair, and I soon 
discovered in him the living epistle of Christ, known and read of all men. He 
was then medical officer at that important military post, remaining till 1850, 



INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 



and returning in '53 for permanent residence, on his. retirement from the army. 
-He was the centre of a faithful band of Corneliuses of the Vickar's stamp, to 
which belonged such men as Capt. Hammond, one of the heroes of the Redan 
of Crimean, but yet more illustrious Christian, fame. In that most interesting 
of Christian Biographies, "Hammond's Life," "the good physician" obtains 
honorable mention, and his contribution is not the least valuable. With all 
those works of faith and labours of love into which that most manly and 
Christian soldier threw his whole soul, Dr. Mair had to do. The Bible and 
tract societies found in him their most efficient practical advocate ; of the 
weekly committee meetings, and the monthly concert for prayer, he was the 
most regular attender ; of the Kingston Sabbath Reformation Society he was 
the first President, and now fills the office of Secretary. He was ever ready 
to distribute and willing to communicate. His ear was ever open to the cry of 
the needy. Professional advice gratis and . pecuniary assistance were most 
ungrudgingly given to multitudes. 

During the fatal emigrant fever of 1847 and the cholera of "49, he followed 
in the footsteps of the Great Physician who went about continually doing good. 
The chamber of sickness, the house of mourning — at once the lofty and the 
lowly were cheered by his presence, and comforted and directed by his prayers 
and counsel. In our Sanitary Board, and our City Mission, he was very promi- 
nent. In addition to his other good works, already enumerated, he has, during 
this second term of our intercourse, identified himself specially with the man- 
agement of the public schools and the "sacramental ' phase of the temperance 
question. As a school trustee he has been most energetic and faithful, though 
subjected not unfrequently to not a little annoyance. With the temperance 
cause he connected himself in 1843, when in a precarious state of health, 
influenced by the advice of a brother physician. In 1850, when going home 
in the ship, two letters by Judge Marshall, of Nova Scotia, brought the sacra- 
mental wine question under his notice, and since 1852 he has been decided 
upon it. During the intervening years he has read and written much regard- 
ing it, and has been endeavoring to rouse the churches and Christians generally 
to its consideration. Aside from this subject the doctor has written on others 
connected with his profession, though from his life having been one of labor 
and travel, he has not had much time to devote to literary pursuits. We have 
not seen any of the letters Dr Mair now proposes publishing, but we are cer- 
tain, from what we know of the man, however much some may call in question 
his positions, all must admire the honesty and fearlessness with which they are 
advanced, and the extensive erudition and intimate knowledge of scripture by 
which their advocacy is marked. Most of the readers of these "Delavan- 
Letters "will be strangers to their author. Let them understand that 
those who know him best think most of him; and however " peculiar" some 
may think his views to be, and however fervid, even to fanaticism, others may 
regard his defence of them, it is the general feeling throughout the entire 
circle of his acquaintances, that no one has a better right than he to appro- 
priate the eulogium of the patient patriarch — " When the ear heard me, then 
it blessed me ; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me, because I 
delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless and him that had none to 
help him. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me, and I 
caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. I was eyes to the blind, and feet 
was I to the lame. I was a father to the poor, and the cause which I knew 
not I searched out." 

Believe me, my dear sir, 
Very truly yours, 

ROBERT FERRIER BURNS. 
Pastor Presbyterian Church of Canada 



LETTER 



DR. MAIR TO EDWARD C. DEUVAN. 



LETTER I. 

Kingston, C. W., March 25, 1859. 
\ My Dear Sir, 

The Bible, and the Bible only, ought to be the 
miperance of the world. Let us heartily adopt this principle 
jour motto and watch-word, never to be forgotten or forsaken 
his. If it had never been lost sight of since the days of the 
jostles, or after being for a period neglected, had been again 
nly laid hold of by the churches of Christ, some hundreds 
years ago, and vigorously maintained in all succeeding ages, 
m to the present time, there would have been no need of the 
aperance or Teetotal movement, for the plain reason that 
1 abstinence from all intoxicating drinks in man's normal 
state of health, would have been the uniform law and custom in 
all well governed Kingdoms and Republics, thoroughly incor- 
porated with their civil and religious institutions, and forming 
tie ground-work of their prosperity and happiness. 

A triple chain unites the Temperance of earth with the juris- 
prudence of Heaven, not one link of which can be severed with- 
out deranging the whole. 



6 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

The sum and substance of the two tables of the moral law is 
expressive of this three-fold love : " Thou shalt love the Lord 
thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy 
mind, and with all thy strength: 1 ' this is the first command- 
ment; and the second is like namely, this: "Thou shalt love 
thy neighbor as thyself." (Mark xii, 30, 31.) Temperance 
built upon this immovable foundation, the law of God, in its 
three-fold character of love to Him, as the source of piety or 
goodliness ; love to self, flowing from the other, and forming 
with it the source of self-government or sobriety; and love 
to man flowing from the two previous loves, and constituting 
with these the conjoint source of righteousness or justice, form 
a temple sacred to Jehovah, which is "as Mount Zion, which/ 
cannot be moved, but abicleth forever." It is at this point/ 
that there is a necessity for the introduction of the Cross of/ 
Christ, for "who (amongst the sinful sons of Adam) is suffi-/ 
cient for these things?" But what man could not do har 
been perfectly accomplished by Him, " who, although He wal 
rich, yet for your sakes became poor, that ye, through Hi 
poverty, might be rich ; who magnified the law and made J 
honorable ; who, his own self, bare our sins in His own boje 
on the tree, that we being dead to sins should live utf" 
righteousness, by whose stripes ye were healed." te 

The Temperance of human, erroneously called Christ^, 
expediency, is very different. It must necessarily be lair* 
impotent, fickle, dishonoring to God, and incapable of b(£y 
ing the burden, and accomplishing the work laid upon^! 
because it merely recognizes man's duty to his fellows, failing 
to take into account his paramount duty to God and his prior 
duty to himself, in which, unitedly, his duty to his neighbor 
must originate, and by which it must be regulated. In the 
following words of inspiration, this triune morality (if I may 
so speak), is beautifully set forth : " The grace of God that 
bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all men, teaching us that 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 



denying ungodliness, and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, 
righteously, and godly in this present world." 

I cannot but reject expediency, then, as the basis or expo- 
nent of Bible Temperance. In this sentiment I apprehend 
,you agree with me. You have well said, in your comments on 
bhe letter of the Rev. Dr. Yale (p. 24, of the Enquirer), "I 
nave supposed that christian expediency requires that we should 
bive up the use of anything innocent in itself for the good of 
Others ; but when the article to be abandoned is known to be 
bositively injurious, by testimony and experience, I have sup- 
posed the rule cannot apply ; and it then becomes a duty not 
10 use the article at all. St. Paul says, \ It is neither good to 
it flesh, nor drink wine, nor anything whereby thy brother 
^umbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.' 
i " Now meat is innocent in itself, as a common diet ; still we 
[ould abandon its use if the good of others require it. It has 
len taken for granted by some, that St. Paul refers to intoxi- 
jing wine ; are we sure of this ? 

f ' If he referred to the pure, unintoxicating wine, then the rule 
[expediency with regard to abstinence from wine, rests on 
Ictly the same foundation as on meat ; both innocent, both in 
i<nselves proper, and right to use; but both, like other good 
'.gs, liable to abuse, and to be abandoned to prevent a 
folk brother from stumbling." 
fhi t. Paul appears to me to have been most unmercifully 
«^d ;ged out of his true position as the apostle of the Gentiles ; 
n gloried in the cross ; the greatest philanthropist that ever 
[£§aJH (second only to Immanuel Himself — the perfect God- 
man,) to bear the brunt and odium of this dangerous error. 

Many will have it, that there is only one kind of wine spoken 
of in the Bible, and that intoxicating. It is very convenient 
for such persons to seize upon this saying of the apostle, and 
try to turn it to account. But it is decidedly a perversion 
of the passage just quoted, and from this perversion and others 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 



of a similar nature, numerous and enormous evils have resulted. 
To make of alcoholic wine "a good creature of God," like 
wholesome meat, "not to be refused if it be received with thanks- 
giving," when it is, in truth, a most dangerous and delusive 
poison, in the ratio of the alcohol which it contains, must surely 
be a pestilent error. Thus, men are liable to be misled by their 
spiritual guides and instructers, and falsely to conceive that there 
is nothing in the Word of God, which hinders the use of alcoholic 
drinks, more than of nutritious food, and that there is nothing 
in these drinks of a deceitful and enticing kind which tends to 
the formation of an insatiable appetite, which, when gratified, 
poisons both soul and body. Thus, their minds may be steeled 
against the reception of those vivid statements of Holy Writ 
which plainly teach this great lesson, that the use of these intoxi- 
cating, or poisonous liquors by man, in his normal state of 
health, is an abomination in the sight of God. This aberra- 
tion from the truth sets up, as it were, St. Paul in the place of 
God, and makes him the antagonist of the Divine law. It 
excludes, from the temperance movement, God in Christ, Who 
ought always to have been acknowledged as the founder and 
law-giver of all genuine temperance, and makes the devoted 
and heroic apostle the unconscious and unwilling instrument of 
that exclusion, from which, his noble, generous spirit (were he 
now on earth) would shrink back with grief and consternation. 
This doctrine, moreover, as a natural consequence, extinguishes 
temperance, as a christian grace, and destroys its Divine motiives 
and sanctions ; making it seem to be merely a giving up ihf a 
good thing, for a longer or shorter period, for the sake of a w e?>k 
brother, instead of an imperative duty and precious privilege, 
consisting in the abandonment of an evil thing, alcoholic wine 
binding upon man, at all times, in his normal state of health; 
because enjoined by the law of God, as distinctly, (when all the 
Scriptures upon the subject are considered,) as the sacred observ- 
: ance of the Lord's day, and as necessary, to secure and maintain 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 9 

the right worship of Jehovah, and the happiness of the human race. 

Meat is a good creature of God : a friend of man, which (as 
the chameleon changes its tint from the reflected color of sur- 
rounding objects), may assume a sombre appearance in the 
eyes of a superstitious observer, in consequence of its temporary 
connexion with an evil companion — say an idol —and yet retain 
all its intrinsic good qualities, unimpaired. 

Alcohol (including every alcoholic liquor,) is a poison, which, 
like the venom distilled from the serpent, is such a sworn friend 
of Satan, and deadly enemy to man, that it is scarce possible 
it can be made more hostile, or dangerous by any association 
which may be formed by it. It may be expedient for me not 
to eat a portion of meat offered to an idol, in the presence of a 
weak, but conscientious brother, who has lately escaped from the 
darkness of paganism, and who believes an idol to be something 
in the world, lest I should prove a snare to him ; but I am not 
likely to meet with such a brother often, and when out of his 
sight, I need not be so scrupulous, knowing that "an idol is 
nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but 
one :" the only living and true God. 

But wine and other strong drink being themselves the basest 
idols — the most devouring and destroying Molochs, no idola- 
trous communication with other idols, however intimate, can 
make them more execrable than they now are ; neither can any 
association with holy persons or things, in the least degree 
improve them, although it will most certainly taint the reputa- 
tion of their associates. One contingency it is just possible to 
conceive, and only one, to which the language of the apostle 
(supposing his allusion to have been to alcoholic wine as a good 
thing) could have been applicable ; that is, to the whole family 
of man, struck down suddenly and simultaneously with typhus 
fever, or some other asthenic disease of the same class, for the 
cure of which alcoholic drinks are very generally believed to 
be a suitable, if not the best, remedy. 



10 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

Let the advocate of expediency make the most of tins argu- 
ment, and seek support from the following apposite remarks of 
Professor Miller, of Edinburgh, in his recent work, "Alcohol, 
its Place and Power." Speaking of alcohol, as a tonic in 
fever, he says: "But in the trough of fever, dosing goes on 
without one sign of drunkenness ; the brain, on the contrary, 
growing clearer and clearer in all its functions. Nay, it is 
perhaps wrong to speak of wine and brandy, when judiciously 
handled, having a stimulant action in such circumstances. 
They do not excite the brain above the normal standard ; they 
merely bring it up to the normal working, counteracting the 
state of depression in which they found it sunk, and thus 
approaching the character of a true tonic. 

" In order to do this accurately and thoroughly, however, it is 
plain that both a careful and skillful management of the reme- 
dy is required. Like other poisons, it is not to be rashly and 
empirically prescribed, or the dosing fixed by routine. The 
case must be suitable ; the disease and the necessity for the 
remedy must be there; the dose must be well adjusted at starting, 
and its effect must be carefully watched, in order that it may 
be duly regulated accordingly." Is this the good creature, 
which, even in disease where its use is beneficial, requires to 
be so closely watched, and skilfully managed ? Can it then be 
used promiscuously, and at random, in unmeasured quantities, 
in health, where it is not required medicinally ; where it tannot 
nourish, and where it must prove poisonous? In future letters, 
should it be the will of God, that I shall be privileged from time 
to time to address you upon that department of Bible Temper- 
ance which relates to wine and strong drink, I shall endeavor, 
trusting in the "promises of God, which in Him (Jesus) are, 
yea, and in Him, amen," to be guided in my researches by the 
sound views of your distinguished countryman, Jonathan Ed- 
wards, who, " being dead, yet speaketh " in the following words 
cf sterling worth and profound wisdom: "The mind and will 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 11 

of God, concerning any duty to be performed by us, may be 
sufficiently revealed in His word, without a particular precept, 
in so many express terms, enjoining it. 

" The human understanding is the ear to which the word of 
God is spoken ; and if it be so spoken, that the ear may plainly 
hear it, it is enough. God is Sovereign, as to the manner of 
speaking His mind, whether He will speak it in express terms, 
or whether He will speak it, by saying several other things 
which imply it, and from which we may, by comparing them 
together, plainly perceive it. If the mind of God be but 
revealed — if there be but sufficient means for the communica- 
tion of His mind to our minds, that is sufficient ; whether we 
hear so many express words with our ears, or see them in writing 
with our eyes ; or whether we see the thing which He would 
signify to us by the eye of reason, and understanding." 
I am, my dear sir, 

. Affectionately yours, 

JOHN MAIR. 



LETTER II. 

My Dear Sir, 

Never was greater injustice done to any book, 
than has been done to the Bible, in regard to drunkenness, 
its causes and cure. If hemlock and hellebore, which belong 
to the same class of poisons as alcohol, had been substituted 
for wine and strong drink; or in modern phraseology, " wines 
and spirituous liquors," as dietetic articles of ordinary use, 
less wonder should have been excited in the minds of impartial 
judges, than ought to have been produced by the habitual use of 
alcoholic liquors, by man in his normal state of health ; because, 
neither hellebore nor hemlock is specially spoken against in 
Scripture ; whereas, wine and strong drink are frequently rep- 
resented there, in the most unfavorable light, that they may be 
shunned. 



12 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

It is high time that the errors which prevail in Christendom 
upon this subject were made manifest, in order to their final 
destruction ; and that justice were done to the word of God, in 
regard to alcoholic intemperance, and ant i- alcoholic temper- 
ance ; terms which may be aptly employed, to signify the 
departments of christian ethics which relate to wine and strong 
drink, in our future correspondence. 

In my letter to you of date 6th June, 1856, which appeared 
in the Gospel Tribune of July, the same year, there are certain 
apposite remarks, which I now take the liberty of quoting 
nearly verbatim : "It has often been asserted, with apparently 
some degree of triumph, that there is no command of Scripture 
against the use of intoxicating wine. How such an assertion 
could have been made by men intimately acquainted with the 
sacred volume, it is not easy to explain. The fact is quite the 
reverse. Although the 'blessed Gospel,' as has been well 
remarked by arch-deacon Jeffreys, ' is not a book of casuistry, 
nor a statute book of laws ;' yet, in the case of wine and strong 
drink, the general plan of the Divine procedure in leaving specific 
acts and things, to be judged, of by men, with the discerning, 
intellectual and moral faculties, with which God has endowed 
them, seems, in a remarkable manner, to have been departed 
from by Divine wisdom. The Decalogue supplies general laws 
for man's government, but it does not condescend to enumerate 
the various modes in which persons may violate these laws. 

" Under the 6th commandment, for example, which is : ' Thou 
shalt not kill,' there is no enumeration of the various means 
by which murder may be committed ; there is no catalogue 
annexed of the different poisonous substances to be found in 
the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, by which life may 
be destroyed, in a more or less summary manner. You find 
nowhere in the Bible, any legal prohibition of the use^of 
opium, or arsenic, or any other poison known to the ancients ; 
yet, it cannot be denied, that clanger might have been incurred, 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 13 

and may still be incurred, by individuals, and even death be the 
result from the ignorant, or intentional use of them. 

" But the Almighty has acted differently in regard to wine 
and strong drink. They seem to possess certain qualities 
which might entitle them to be included in the same category 
with opium ; but universal experience has proved that they 
are articles which surpass that poison in their power to lead 
groups of mankind astray from the paths of virtue. They pos- 
sess peculiarly seductive properties, by which they often irre- 
sistibly lure multitudes to destruction ; opium-eating being a 
solitary, while spirit drinking is often a social vice, the prolific 
parent of innumerable crimes, the destroyer of thousands of 
souls, the implacable enemy of Jesus and His religion ! It is on 
account of these singularly perverting and destructive qualities 
possessed by alcoholic drinks, (may it not be safely and rever- 
ently believed ?) that Jehovah has singled them out and made 
them conspicuous as objects to be shunned by man ; and this 
He has done in instances too numerous to be recapitulated 
here, and in a great variety of ways, all calculated to 
arrest the attention, command the conscience, and regulate the 
will of those who consent to examine the subject dispassion- 
ately, and without prejudice. Is not drunkenness repeatedly 
denounced as shutting out from the kingdom of God ? and is it 
not true that 'principals include accessaries;' that is, whatever 
approaches, or comes near to them, or has a tendency to them ? 
Is not the use of alcoholic drinks in man's normal state of health, 
included under this canon of interpretation, seeing it has been 
admitted by the physiologist, that it is the nature of these drinks 
to induce a habit which constitutes 'confirmed drunkenness?' 

" Hear what the Rev. Dr. Beecher says, with uncommon 

power, upon this subject : ' But of all the ways to hell, which 

deluded mortals tread, that of the intemperate is the most 

dreary and terrific. The demand for artificial stimulus, to 

supply the deficiencies of healthy aliment, is like the rage of 
2 



14 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

thirst and the voracious demand of famine. It is famine, for 
the artificial excitement has become as essential now to strength 
and cheerfulness as simple nutrition once was. But nature, 
taught by habit, to require what once she did not need, demands 
gratification now, with a decision inexorable as death, and to 
most men, as irresistible. The denial is a living death.' 

"So far, then, mankind would have had no excuse for tam- 
pering with alcoholic, intoxicating drinks, if there had been 
merely in the Bible such a denunciation as the following : 'Nor 
thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards shall enter into the king- 
dom of Heaven;" or even if this had been wanting, and their 
sole, or at least principal instructor, as in other cases, had been 
the 6th, and other commandments of the Decalogue. But not 
only is drunkenness denounced in Scripture, but the use of that 
which produces it, is by name strictly forbidden, thus: 'Look 
not thou upon the wine when it is red : when it giveth his color 
in the cup : when it moveth itself aright : at the last, it biteth 
like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.' Other Scriptural 
proofs are there given, but I do not proceed with them here, as 
they will be brought fully under notice in a future communication. 

The following pointed observations, however, may not be 
out of place: "Would you think it right to make opium your 
common food, or to use it at all in your normal state of health, 
if the same epithets were applied to it in the Bible, as are 
applied to alcoholic wine ? or rather, would the testimony of 
Scripture against it, similar to that against intoxicating wine, 
induce you to receive it into your favor : although without 
that testimony, you keep it at a distance, and eschew the use of 
it, except as a medicinal agent ? — that is to say, would it be 
right, not only to attach no value to the witness of Scripture and 
of God against it, but to place that witness to its credit, which 
ought, according to common sense, grammar, reason and reve- 
lation, to militate, in the strongest manner, to its disadvantage 
and repudiation ? Would it be lawful to trifle with it as men 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 15 

now trifle with wine and other alcoholic drinks ; not only if, 
but because God had been pleased to express, in the most 
authoritative manner, His disapprobation of it as a common 
article of diet, and stamped it as infamous, over and over again ; 
although, without such Divine interdict, you feel it to be your 
duty to reject it from your daily food? If so, then, no doubt 
it will be perfectly lawful and right for christians to continue, 
as they have been doing, with intoxicating drinks, for ages past ; 
to treat them with the same unbounded confidence, in spite 
of all the awful denunciations of God against them, and not 
only in spite of, but because they have been so denounced. For 
it is obvious that if opium, with its preparations, having only the 
testimony of man against it, be generally treated as a poison, 
and therefore avoided as an article of diet, while alcoholic 
drinks are so made use of, which have the decided testimony of 
God against them, in addition to the testimony of mankind ; 
were the witness of God super-added against opium, it would 
not only not corroborate the former evidence to its injury, but 
altogether neutralize that evidence, and cause it to be received 
as a good creature, deserving of the utmost confidence." 

Man believes the testimony of his fellow man, that opium 
is a poison, and acts in accordance with that testimony. Shall 
he not receive "the witness of God," which is greater, and 
yield implicit obedence to it, for " this is the witness which He 
hath testified" of the wine which intoxicates; " Look not 
thou upon the wine when it is red : when it giveth his color in 
the cup : when it moveth itself aright : at the last, it biteth 
like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder." 

Hoping, in my next letter, after a few further preliminary 
remarks, to be enabled by the grace of God, to sketch out a 
plan for the Scriptural investigation of the great disease — 
Alcoholic intemperance, and the cure thereof : Ant i- alcoholic 
temperance ; and requesting an interest in your prayers. 

I am, Yours affectionately, JOHN MAIR. 



16 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 



LETTER III. 

My Dear Sir, 

One would suppose, from the favor shown by 
christians generally to the doctrine of expediency, as the basis of 
modern Teetotalism, that drunkenness was not included under 
the principles expounded by our Divine Kedeemer, in His Ser- 
mon on the Mount, and that anti-alcoholic temperance was a 
myth, which might in vain be sought for in the Bible ; for if a 
reality to be found there, why should human expediency have 
been preferred to the Divine law, in all its comprehensiveness 
and spirituality, in this branch of christian ethics ? That, not 
only drunkenness, but everything which has a tendency to it, is 
virtually forbidden by the perfect morality of our Saviour, I 
firmly believe. 

I shall make no attempt, at present, to explain why such a 
belief has been so rare ; or why a lax and faulty human device 
should have been preferred to a Divine commandment, perpetu- 
ally and universally binding upon mankind. An effort may be 
put forth in a future letter to unfold this mystery. I have 
faith in the Bible, as the only sure and sufficient foundation of 
all genuine, effective, God-pleasing, God-honoring morality ; 
whether in church, or state; for families, nations, or individu- 
als, abroad, or at home. I cannot agree with Neal Dow, as 
he is reported to have expressed himself, at the great public 

I meeting in Manchester, when he visited England, in 1857, that 
legal prohibition is, or can be, " the last stage in the temperance 

1 reformation." The expediency which now views intoxicating 

, v wine, &c, as a good creature within the sanctuary, but votes it 

to be a nuisance elsewhere, must, I apprehend, give place to 

the stern, consistent belief, that intoxicating liquor of every 

J kind is an evil thing, as well at the Lord's table as at man's 

Stable, ere any prohibitory law, however perfect it may seem, can 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 17 

strike at the root of the Upas tree of drunkenness, as it flour-" 
ishes in the church, the family, and the world ; and cause it to 
wither, decay, and die ! 

Many temperance reformers, of modern times, seem to have 
forgotten, or lightly to have borne in mind, that something must 
go before law, to make it strong and conscience-binding, viz : 
right principle derived from Divine truth. Arbitrary laws, 
built on a quick-sand foundation, may be framed, and seem to 
prosper for a time : but by-and-by they will become powerless 
and contemptible ; or at most, only extort a base, grudging, 
outward compliance, from dread of punishment, while secret 
breaches of them will be committed, and winked at, whenever 
and wherever men may find an encouraging opportunity. How 
can it be otherwise, if the church is to have any influence on 
her members, or on the world, seeing that she consecrates 
intoxicating liquor, and pays it the highest deference, as the 
symbol of her Saviour's precious, sin-atoning blood, and not 
alcoholic liquor simply ;but (as has been proved in the most clear 
and convincing manner by you, in your excellent letters in the 
Enquirer, published so far back as 1841, and since, in other 
productions of your pen, and especially in your recent work on 
adulterations,) ''liquors sold as wine, in which there is not a 
drop of the fruit of the vine, but a combination of poisonous 
drugs, fit neither for man nor beast to swallow, and a perfect 
disgrace to the communion table !" I apprehend that, although 
there are many zealous contenders for a Maine-law in 
America, — and England is fast following her example, — yet a 
large proportion of them, if they were honestly to reveal their 
secret thoughts and desires, would confess that they cherish an 
inward liking for strong drink, as u a good creature of God, 
not to be refused if received with thanksgiving;" and that 
they would be sorely grieved if they imagined that they should 
forever be deprived of the pleasure, and solace derived 
from it when alone, or in the bosom of their families, in the 



18 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

event of a prohibitory law being adopted ; and if they had no hope 
that the reformed customs and habits of society, in consequence 
thereof, would ultimately lead to the restoration of the traffic. 
But no such melancholy forebodings need weigh down their 
spirits by day : no such gloomy visions need haunt their pillows 
by night. As long as the church continues to patronize alcohol 
at her sacred altars, happen what, may in regard to legal prohi- 
bition, they can comfort themselves with the cheering thought 
that they cannot, and shall not be prevented from turning their 
apples into intoxicating cider ; their grapes into intoxicating 
wine ; or their grain into intoxicating ale or spirits, for domes- 
tic use ; of which, they may quaff their fill, unawed by the law or 
its myrmidons, and callous to the warnings of Solomon, inspired 
by God, so to speak, that poison, like that of a serpent, lurks 
within the seductive cup ! Will it be believed, that an eminent 
living divine of the Emerald Isle, at a temperance meeting in 
England, not long ago, broached the fantastic theory (and he 
seemed serious) that home-liquor- drinking is the legitimate St. 
Paul-remedy for intemperance ; far preferable to a Maine-law, 
because St. Paul has said, I Cor., xi, 20, 22 : " When ye come 
together therefore unto one place, this is not to eat the Lord's 
supper : for in eating, every man taketh before other his own 
supper, and one is hungry, and another is drunken. What ? 
have ye not houses to eat and drink in, or despise ye the Church 
of God, and shame them that have not," &c. ? A flimsy 
foundation this, surely, upon which to build a goodly super- 
structure, sacred to temperance ; when, according to the Rev. 
Dr. Bloomfield, Professor Moses Stewart, and other eminent 
interpreters, there is nothing in the passage to show that the 
apostle referred to intoxicating wine at all ; but that the charges 
he brings against the Corinthians, were selfish neglect of the 
poor, on the part of their rich brethren, and carnal, irreverent 
observance of the Lord's supper, as if it had been an ordinary 
meal or of the preceding and accompanying love-feast ! 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 19 

But, it is not the question, whether and how far by means of 
fines, prisons, fetters, bolts and bars, a strictly vigilant and 
efficient police, and all the necessary appendages of a coercive 
system, or by any other mere human scheme, drunkenness, 
with its attendant miseries, degradations, and desolations, could 
be kept within narrow bounds, so as to become a less grievous 
evil, than at present, that I am desirous should be pondered ; 
but the far nobler question, what ought to be done, by gospel 
means, to bring not only or chiefly the greatest amount of good 
to man, but also, and pre-eminently, the richest revenue of glory 
to God, in the department of anti- alcoholic temperance. 

With this sublime object in view, and sincerely desirous, with 
God's blessing, to contribute somewhat towards its accomplish- 
ment, I feel I cannot do better than conclude this letter with the 
following admirable and apposite remarks from the " Philosophy 
of the Plan of Salvation," by an American citizen : 

"There are two insuperable difficulties which would forever 
hinder the restoration of mankind, to truth and happiness, from 
being accomplished by human means. 

" The first, which has been already alluded to, is that human 
instruction, as such, has no power to bind the conscience. Even 
if man were competent to discover all the truth necessary for a 
perfect rule of conduct, yet that truth would have no reformatory 
power, because men could never feel that truth as obligatory, 
which proceeded from merely human sources. It is an obvious 
principle of our nature, that the conscience will not charge guilt 
on the soul for disobedience, when the command proceeds from a 
fellow-man, who is not recognised as having the prerogative, and 
the right, to require submission. And besides, as men's minds 
are variously constituted, and of various capacities, there could 
be no agreement in such a case concerning the question, ' What 
is truth?' As well might we expect two school boys to reform 
each others' manners in school, without the aid of the teacher's 
authority, as that men can reform their fellows without the 



20 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

sanction of that authority ivhich will quicken and bind the 
conscience. The human conscience was made to recognise and, 
enforce the authority of God ; and unless there is belief of 
the Divine obligation of truth, conscience refuses to perform 
its office. 

"But the grand difficulty is this : Truth, whether sanctioned 
by conscience or not, has no power, as has been shown, to produce 
love in the heart. The law may convict and guide the mind, 
but it has no power to soften or to change the affections. This 
was the precise thing necessary, and this necessary end the 
world could not accomplish. All the wisdom of all the philoso- 
phers in all ages could never cause the affections of the soul 
to rise to the holy, blessed God. To destroy selfish pride, and 
produce humility — to eradicate the evil passions, and produce 
in the soul, desires for the universal good, and love for the 
universal parent, were beyond the reach of earthly wisdom and 
power. The wisdom of the world, in their efforts to give truth 
and happiness to the human soul, was foolishness with God ; 
and the wisdom of God — Christ crucified — was foolishness, with 
the philosophers, in relation to the same subject ; yet it was 
Divine philosophy — an adapted means, and the only adequate 
means to accomplish the necessary end. Said an apostle, in 
speaking on this subject : ' The Jews require a sign, and the 
Greeks seek after wisdom ; but we preach Christ crucified, unto 
the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks, foolishness; 
but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ 
the power of God, and the wisdom of God.' " 
I am, with great respect, my dear sir, 

Yours affectionately, 

JOHN MAIR. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 21 



LETTER IV. 

My Dear Sir, 

There is nothing more observable in the temper- 
ance movement of modern times, than the gradual manner in 
which fragments of truth, respecting spirituous liquors, have 
been discovered by successive inquirers, contrasted with the 
direct and explicit manner, in which the same truth in its simple 
unity and fulness, though under-varying phases and relations, 
is authoritatively revealed in the Bible, by its Divine Author, 
It might be no very difficult, though a most ungracious task 
for one, aided b}^ the researches and discoveries of the intrepid 
band of temperance reformers in Europe and America, to 
detect occasional flaws and slips in some of their doings ; and 
by means of the light which they have kindled, and beyond 
their own field of vision, it might be possible to discover a 
fertile region which, to them, seemed enveloped in mist. But 
a far more agreeable duty than that of a fault-finder invites 
and constrains me. I rejoice in beholding the admirable har- 
mony which exists between the matured results of scientific 
investigation, conducted according to Baconian rules — by the 
slow, but certain method of observation and experiment ; by such 
men as Liebig, Carpenter, Lees, Mussey and Youmans, and the 
plain statements of Holy Writ, respecting alcohol, the poison- 
ous principle of wine and strong drink — (to the confusion of 
infidels) — adding another testimony to the cheering and sublime 
truth, that "the Book of Nature, and the Book of Revelation, 
have the same author, and whenever rightly interpreted, both 
declare the glory of God, and show forth his handy- work." It 
has been beautifully said by Sir David Brewster : "If the God 
of love is most appropriately worshipped in the christian temple, 4 
the God of nature may be equally honored in the temple of 
science. Even from its lofty minarets, the philospher may 






I 



22 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

summon the faithful to prayer ; and the priest and the sage 
may exchange altars without the compromise of faith, or 
knowledge." 

If, on the other hand, the interpretation given by the opponents 
of teetotalism of Scriptural language, in regard to alcoholic 
wine and strong drink as good creatures of God, were correct, 
then, the conclusions of the most eminent, scientific, and 
practical men of Europe and America, deciding that they are 
poisonous, and every way injurious to man, in his normal state 
of health, would be opposed to the testimony of Holy Writ, 
and afford a handle to infidels, to sneer at the Bible as an 
imposition upon mankind. Instead of referring here to a multi- 
tude of authorities, to prove the poisonous nature of alcohol, I 
need only quote a single passage from the London Times, 
which will be universally allowed to be an echo of the public 
voice upon this subject. In the London Times of March 11th, 
1857, are to be found these words: " Opium is in the same 
category as wine, or gin, or tobacco. Are our distillers enemies 
to their race l . are the planters of Cuba and Virginia to be 
denounced ? are France and Spain no longer to send in the 
produce of their vineyards, because the people drink and chew 
more than is good for them ? If the moderate use of these 
is to be justified in health, why should we pour invectives 
against those who sell the production, which is equivalent to 
them, (opium) to 300,000,000 of men?" What a debt of grati- 
tude does the world owe (and it will never be paid off till the 
millennial day,) to Beecher, Hewett, Edwards, Nott, Barnes, 
Marsh, Burritt and Stewart, Drs. Lee and Sewall, Generals 
Cocke and Carey, and Hon. Gerrit Smith : and though last, not 
least, Neal Dow, in the United States ; to Father Mathew, 
Livesey, Eaton, Dunlop, Stubbin, Gurney, Buckingham, Gough ; 
to the authors of "Bacchus and Anti-Bacchus," in the British 
Islands, and a host of other heroic men who have fought man- 
fully in the battle of temperance, and whose names will be 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE, 23 

handed down to the remotest ages, associated with those of 
Wilberforce, Howard and Jenner ! But I must not pass over 
your own honored name, which has occupied so conspicuous a 
place in the annals of christian temperance, for the last thirtj" 
years. In bold defence of the important Scriptural doctrine, 
that the unintoxicating fruit of the vine is the proper emblem of 
the Redeemer's blood, you, assailed by bitter reproaches and 
calumnies, meekly and patiently persevered, "strong in the 
Lord, and in the power of His might." You have devoted 
your bodily and mental energies to this glorious cause ; you 
have expended large sums of money upon it ; you have zeal- 
ously and wisely enquired into the subject yourself, and 
munificently encouraged others to do the same ; your sole object, 
all the while, being to discover the truth for God's glory and 
the good of the human race. 

But the days of superstitious veneration for a vile, tradi- 
tionary delusion, I trust, are fast drawing to a close. The 
tables are being turned. It is no longer sacrilegious or phari- 
saical, frivolous or absurd, to plead for the use of the pure, 
unintoxicating, unadulterated fruit of the vine, as the Divinely- 
appointed symbol of our Saviour's precious, sin-atoning blood. 
In your valuable publications, you have cheered my heart by 
presenting some pithy, seer-like sayings, of men of note in your 
and in other countries, upon this important theme — sayings, 
which have gushed forth, clear and sparkling, from the deep 
recesses of their minds, like streams of living water from a 
perennial fountain, emblematic of the purity of temperance, 
and redolent of unnumbered blessings yet in store for the sin- 
stained family of man ! These apothegms are worthy of being 
stored up, and made household words, by the wise and good of 
all nations. 

Thus you speak, and this has been your motto for thirty 
years : "All use of intoxicating drinks, as a beverage in health, 
is abuse;" and it follows from this, " all use of intoxicating 



24 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

drink, in health, is intemperance — the degree regulated by the 
quantity." 

Thus spake the Honorable R. H. Walworth, late chancellor 
of the State of New York, and first president of the New York 
Temperance Society — about twenty-five years since : " The time 
will come when men will as soon be engaged in poisoning their 
neighbors' wells, as in dealing out intoxicating liquor as a 
beverage." 

"The Rev. Dr. Lyman Beecher, in the following letter, (I 
quote from your publications,) brings the question of alcohol 
drinking, as a beverage in health, under whatever cloak it may 
be disguised to the true test : 

'Albany., Aug. 2tth, 1836. 
To E. C. Delavan, 

Dear Sir: Alcohol, taken as a beverage, is always injurious 
in proportion to the quantity taken, and the frequency of its use. Its use, 
therefore, is not only inexpedient as an injurious example, but is morally 
wrong, both as it endangers health, and exposes to the insidious dominion of a 
deadly habit, and countenances its production and use with all its sweeping 
desolations and woes. The use of alcohol, therefore, as a beverage, is, in my 
judgment, inexpedient as an example, and morally wrong, as a violation of the 
obligation to use all lawful means to preserve our own life, and the life of our 
neighbors. Yours truly, LYMAN BEECHER.' " 

" The Eev. Dr. Justin Edwards, now no more, and who, for a 

long series of years, devoted his best energies to enlighten the 

public mind as to all the evils flowing from the use of intoxi- 

> eating drinks as a beverage, in 1832, states in an address : 

1 It is not needful, or useful It is a poison which 

injures the body and the soul ; it deranges healthy action and 
disturbs the functions of life ; it blinds the understanding, sears 
the conscience, pollutes the affections, and hardens the heart ; 
it leads men into temptation, and gives evil peculiar power 
over their minds ; it tends to bring those who use it to a pre- 
mature grave, and to usher all who understand, or have the 
means of understanding its nature and effects, and yet con- 
tinue to drink it, or furnish it to be drunk by others, into a 



: 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 25 

miseralle eternity.' The present Secretary of State at Wash- 
ington, the Hon. Lewis Cass, never has tasted ardent spirits, 
and with Chancellor Walworth was among the first to move in 
Congress to prohibit the spirit rations in the army and navy. 
Listen to his noble sentiments, expressed at the capitol at 
Washington, February 24th, 1833, while advocating the tempe- 
rance reform : 'This subject becomes unimportant when com- 
pared with the ultimate object of those who are prosecuting the 
warfare against the great enemy of the human race. They 
seek not only to cure the malady, but to render its recurrence 
impossible — to save all from the dangers which threaten them : 
to prevent the abuse, by preventing the use of stimulating 
liquors, and by preparing the way for the entrance upon life, of 
a generation not exposed to this fatal temptation. Let, then, 
one mighty effort be made to banish from our land this bane 
of national and individual prosperity. Let there be a union 
of hearts and exertions. Experience and reflection will soon 
disclose the most practicable plan of effecting the object. Pre- 
cept and example, when they go together, go far in their 
operation upon human affairs. Let them be here united. The 
nature and extent of the evil must be laid open to all. Such 
an effort would be a crusade far holier than that which sent 
the nations of Christendom to the land of Judea to seek, 
through battle and slaughter, the tomb of the Saviour. It 
would be a crusade of virtue against vice ; an effort to give 
tone and strength to public sentiment, and to direct it to the 
attainment of one of the most important objects which remains 
to man to accomplish — which would reduce the black catalogue 
of crimes anl criminals, and give an entire new aspect to 
human affairs.' 

"That alcohol, whether found in rum, brandy or wine, is 
poison, is conceded on all hands. ' It is classed among poisons,' 
says a learned writer, ' because it is one of those substances 
which are known by physicians as capable of altering or 



26 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

destroying, in a majority of cases, some of the functions 
necessary to life.' — [Dr. Romeyn Beck. 

"Says the Rev. Dr. Win. Sprague, of Albany: 'Do you 
make the poison, or do you use it, or do you sell it ? If you 
do, never open your lips to pray for the millennium.' He also 
says, ' the fruit of the vine may be legitimately fermented, or 
unfermented.' " 

" 'It is preposterous,' says the Hon. G-errit Smith, ' to fight 
against alcohol in other places, and to welcome it at the Lord's 
table.' 

" ' As to the communion question, I have no fear but the truth 
will finally prevail ; one great aid to this, undoubtedly, will be the 
fact, that in all the nation there is not to be purchased a gallon, or 
bottle even, of the pure fruit of the vine, unless it may possibly 
be some relict of an old importation.' — [Hon. Neat Dow. 

" ' Do intoxicating drinks add vigor to muscle, or strength to 
intellect, or warmth to the heart, or rectitude to the conscience ? 
The experience of thousands, and even millions have answered 

this question How many will testify, in each of 

these respects, that they were sensible gainers from the time 
they renounced the use of all alcoholic stimulants.' — [Bishop 
Alonzo Potter, D. D., LL.D. 

" Father Mathew remarked to a London audience, he had 
no hesitation in saying that strong drink was anti- Christ ; it 
was opposed to the principles of Christ, His designs, His exam- 
ple, and His reign. 

" ' The testimony of physicians is uniform and unequivocal. 
They pronounce alcohol a poison.' — [Bishop Horatio Potter, 
D. D. 

" ' I believe all use of intoxicating drinks unfavorable to 
mental effort.' — [Bishop Wainwright. 

" Says President Way land, speaking of the sale of intoxi- 
cating liquor : ' Would it be right for me to derive my living 
by selling poison, to propagate the plague around me V 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 27 

lt Lord John Russell has pronounced his opinion in the fol- 
lowing words : ' I am convinced there is no cause more likely 
to elevate the people of this country, in every respect, whether 
as regards religion, political importance, literary and moral 
cultivation, than this great question of temperance.' 

" ' That pure alcohol is a poison is an admitted fact.' " — [Rev. 
Dr. E. Nott, LL.D. 

These oracular sayings were, at least, some of them, the pre- 
cursors of the great movement, which may be called the Bible- 
temperance movement. But its consideration must be postponed 
till a future occasion, should God be pleased to grant it. 

Yours affectionately, 

JOHN MAIK. 



LETTER V. 

My Dear Sir, 

The first two remedial measures adopted by tem- 
perance reformers were merely palliative. They allowed, at 
the outset, the use of all intoxicating alcoholic liquors in mode- 
ration, as they termed it, although moderation in the use of 
poisonous (the synonyme of intoxicating) drinks, is a solecism in 
language, carrying contradiction and absurdity in its face. The 
next step in the movement was also based upon a false princi- 
ple. By it the use of distilled liquors was wholly prohibited ; 
but, still, the moderate employment of vinously fermented ' 
liquors was permitted. When, by scientific research, and accu- 
rate observation, the truth began to be discovered that alcohol, 
in all its forms and combinations, was a poison, and a virulent 
one too, remedial means of a more radical kind were instituted ; 
and teetotalism, or entire abstinence from all intoxicating alco- 
holic drinks, as a beverage in health, became the basis of union 
amongst a large class of temperance reformers. About this 
period, a temperance convention was held at Albany, February 



28 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

25th, 1834. At it you introduced the following preamble and 
resolution : 

"Whereas, There is so much evidence of the almost univer- 
sal adulteration of fermented liquors, and of wines particularly, 
by the use of alcohol, &c, and of the great extent to which 
the manufacture of factitious wines is carried, as to render it 
almost, if not quite certain, that the pure juice of the grape is 
seldom procured in this country ; and 

" Whereas, It is now understood, and generally believed, 
that the reformation of the drunkard is utterly hopeless, so 
long as he continues to use the smallest quantity of any intoxi- 
cating drinks ; and 

"Whereas, It is important to remove all objections against 
uniting with temperance societies, now urged by a numerous 
and efficient portion of our citizens : therefore, 

"Resolved, That those members of temperance societies, who 
wholly abstain from intoxicating liquors as an ordinary drink, 
present to the world a consistent and efficacious example, which 
this meeting would warmly commend to the imitation of every 
friend of temperance." 

You go on to say : " The passage of this preamble and reso- 
lution was powerfully, and, I doubt not, conscientiously opposed, 
not only by a doctor of divinity, but by a doctor of law. 
Says one : ' The Scriptures permitted and sanctioned the use 
of (intoxicating) wine. Jesus Christ used it, and consecrated 
it by making it one of the elements in a religious ordinance 
instituted by Himself; and more than this, He manufactured 
it ; and would gentlemen condemn the Lord of Glory V Says 
another : ' We are looking to the great Head of the church 
for success in this cause. Shall we proceed contrary to His 
example ? If the whole world should go for the preamble and 
resolution, the speaker would stand by the Bible and the exam- 
ple of our Saviour.' " 

Of the document containing these remarks, and others of a 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 29 

kindred character, the New York State Temperance Society 
circulated 100,000. 

A sermon was preached January 7, 1835, by a very learned 
clergyman of Albany, on the danger of being over-wise. The 
occasion of this sermon was the dilution of powerful alcoholic 
wine with water, by certain members of his church, for com- 
munion purposes. This was honestly deemed by him an 
11 unhallowed innovation. "* This early discussion of this vital 
question seems to have been instrumental in the good and wise 
providence of God, in quickening into new life and vigor the 
minds, and whetting the ingenuity of some true men, who might 
otherwise have been induced to wait a little longer for a reforma- 
tory movement within the church. 

But I cannot do better than use your own words to show 
the effects of the preamble, resolution, protest, and agitation of 
the wine question generally, upon the temperance movement. 
You thus proceed : " What were the friends of total abstinence 
to do in these circumstances ? They were fully convinced that 
the temperance reformation must either be given up, or that all 
means of intoxication must be abandoned ; distressed as they were 
to hear themselves condemned in public assemblies, from the 
pulpit, and by the press, as inculcating doctrines contrary to the 
word of God and the example of Christ ; denounced on all sides 
as fanatics and ultraists, and an almost universal cry that they 
had ruined the noblest of causes ; yet they felt strong in the 
truth of their position, and persevered in their efforts to sus- 
tain it. Here, and there, one and another began to ask : 
' Was it really intoxicating wine, that our Saviour made at 
Cana, and that he used as a symbol of His blood at the insti- 
tution of the supper V Thus they were led to the Bible, and to 

*A series of articles, in reply to this sermon, appeared in a religious paper 
published in Boston, from the pungent pen of a distinguished scholar and layman 
of the Episcopal church, conclusively proving that it was the practice of the 
early church to dilute sacramental wine with water. 



30 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

history, to ascertain whether, in fact, they did sanction the use 
of such wine. Many thanks are due to those who, in the face 
of persecutions and obloquy, first discussed this question. 
Among these were Prof. Stewart, Edwin James, M. D., L. M. 
Sargent, Esq., Mr. Win. Goodell, Rev. Mr. Duffield, Rev. 
Dr. Chapin, and others. Those gentlemen appreciated, at that 
early day, the leading facts and principles which have estab- 
lished the reputation of the valuable essays, known by the 
titles of 'Bacchus and anti-Bacchus;' and, indeed, there is no 
doubt that the early discussion of these gentlemen, and others 
in this country, first induced the authors of these essays to 
think and write on this subject. A very general excitement 
was produced by this slight agitation of the question. Many 
good men were for a time distressed and offended, and walked 
no more with those so universally denounced as fanatics ; but 
the greatest concern and distress were evinced by makers and 
venders of factitious drinks. They saw clearly, that if they 
could no longer plead the example of the Saviour, and its use 
at the sacrament, good men would soon cease purchasing and 
drinking their importations and mixtures. We are sorry to 
declare, but truth demands it, that the clamor, for a while, pre- 
vailed ; the opposition appeared to triumph, and ' temperance 
down ' was echoed from tavern to grog-shop : from one extremity 
of the nation to another. Still, the friends of total abstinence 
held on, though truth compels me to say — and I say it with 
deep mortification — they were for a time obliged to suppress 
in the society's publication the public discussion of the commu- 
nion question." 

" The Enquirer (independent of all organizations,) devoted 
to free discussion as to the kind of wine proper to be used, at 
the Lord's supper," began to be published by you at Albany, 
in December, 1841. From the pages of the first number of 
that deeply interesting and important work the preceding quo- 
tations have been derived. Your letters and comments on them, 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 31 



with other critical, statistical, and scientific documents, con- 
tained in its two first numbers, afford precious material nowhere 
else to be found, as data for future reference ; while the candid, 
truth-seeking spirit, which led to the throwing open of its pages 
to all honorable disputants, whatever side they might espouse, 
is worthy of sincere commendation. 

It has been said with great energy and truth, by Youmans, in 
the following heart-searching words : 

" How to deal with crime, committed under the influence of 
intoxication, has long been a thorny problem for jurists. But 
the difficulty of government has chiefly sprung from its double 
policy towards the agent which caused intoxication. It has 
uttered one language to the community, through the license 
system, and another from the bench, through its criminal juris- 
prudence, which necessarily involved it in inextricable self-con- 
tradiction. There is but one way in which it can relieve itself 
from complicity in this matter, and stand in a just and irre- 
proachable relation to the crime, suffering, and multiform evil 
which alcohol engenders : and that is, by exerting its utmost 
power, and bringing all the influence it possesses to bear against 
the drinking practice. All earnest blows must be struck at 
this point, or nowhere. If government really desires to abate the 
evils of intemperance, let it prohibit their cause. If it would 
stand with clean hands to judge those who have gone into wrong 
courses through the agency of liquor, it must take an attitude 
of resolute and unyielding hostility to the system by which 
liquor is furnished. It has no more right to license this 
cause of crime than it has to sell indulgences for the com- 
mission of theft^ robbery, or 'perjury. The only just thing- 
possible for government is to prohibit this cause of crime, as 
thoroughly as it prohibits other crimes and their causes." 

But it can hardly be expected that governments will act 
greatly in advance of public opinion, even on questions mani- 
festly for the general good ; nor can it be expected that public 



\ 



32 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

opinion will be much in advance of the church of Christ, on 
the question of right and wrong. 

But a step was taken in the right direction : the great work 
of reformation commenced when the denunciations of a grave 
ecclesiastic, in the halls of Albany, roused the sacramental 
host of the Lord from their lethargy, and made them feel 
that there was a work to be performed by them, in searching 
the Scriptures, to see whether in truth, the Lord Jesus Christ, 
Immanuel, did make use of poisonous alcoholic liquor, as the 
symbol of His blood, as had been asserted of Him by the 
learned divines, when they became alarmed at the adoption of 
the memorable preamble and resolution at the convention, held 
in the capitol of the Empire State in 1834. 

It will be my endeavor, in future letters, with the blessing 
of God upon my labors, to show that the gospel antidote of the 
lawless mystery of alcohol, at the present time, is the cordial 
acceptance of the doctrine, that the revealed law of God is 
against the use of alcoholic liquors, by man in his normal state 
of health, at his own table, and at the table of the Lord. 
I am, my dear sir, 

Yours affectionately, 

JOHN MAIR. 



LETTER VI. 

My Dear Sir, 

Alcohol, when taken into the human system, may 
be viewed in relation to man in his normal or abnormal state 
of health. When viewed in relation to man in his normal 
state of health, it receives the name of poison; when in relation 
to man in his abnormal state of health, it receives the name of 
medicine. This is no vain or useless distinction, because the 

S effect of alcoholic liquors differs, according to the healthy or 
diseased state of persons upon whose constitutions they act, and 

TJhe nature of the diseases with which they are affected. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 33 

Youmans, in his " Scientific Basis of Prohibition," thus speaks 
of alcohol: "Of alcohol itself, little need be said. Its scien- 
tific history has been thoroughly canvassed, and no question is 
better settled than that of its origin and nature. It comes 
into existence through the chemical destruction of food, and is 
that common and active principle of all fermented and distilled 
liquors which gives them the power of producing intoxication. 
Hence, it is both customary and proper to employ the term - 
alcohol, when its various mixtures are referred to." The ques- 
tion of the different effects of alcohol, as acting upon a healthy 
or diseased state of the human body, has been philosophically 
considered in the following words: "There is a condition in 
which it is agreed to call these agents (poisons) by another 
name — that is, when the system has got into an abnormal or 
diseased state, and they are administered with the design of 
removing the malady; they are then known as remedies, or 
medicines. It is not to be forgotten, that the word poison is f 
not applied to any physical or chemical qualities of a substance ] 
in itself considered. It is the name given to its relations to ^. 
life — its effects upon the living organization. Now, though the 
agent may not change its properties, the system, upon which it 
acts, may be in such different conditions that there arises a 
difference of effects, which is very properly distinguished by 
the use of different words. In their remedial and restorative 
influence upon the system, when it is diseased, they are called 
medicines ; in their effects upon the healthy organization, they 
are poisons. Like other poisons, alcohol may be given as a 
medicine to combat or extirpate diseased conditions of the 
system, but the powerful qualities which give it value in these 
cases, are equally potent upon the healthy organism. In the 
latter case, the change wrought is injurious, and therefore, 
justly denominated poisonous. " # 

♦Alcohol is Poison. New York Weekly Tribune, September 22, 1855. 



34 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

It is chiefly to tlie operation of alcoholic liquors upon man- 
kind in their normal state of health, that attention will be 
directed in these letters. Dr. Carpenter has said : " The term 
intoxication is sometimes employed, in this country, to desig- 
nate that series of phenomena which results from the action of 
all such poisons as first produce stimulation, and then narco- 
tism ; of these, alcohol is the type, and the term is commonly 
applied to alcoholic intoxication alone. It is worthy of notice, 
however, that the designation is now given, by French writers, 
to the series of remote or constitutional effects consequent upon 
the introduction of any poisonous agent into the blood. Thus 
we meet with the terms ' arsenical intoxication,' 'iodine 
intoxication,' and even 'purulent intoxication.' In fact, it is 
there considered an equivalent (as its etymology denotes,) of our 
word poisoning ; and the fact that such a term should be in 
common use in this country to designate the ordinary results of 
the ingestion of alcoholic liquors, is not without its significance ; 
for if the classical term ' intoxication ' be habitually employed 
as the equivalent of the Saxon drunkenness, we are justified in 
turning that classical term into English again, and in asserting 
that the condition of drunkenness, in all its stages, is one of 
poisoning. " # 

As respects my work, I believe I have been led by the hand 
of Divine Providence, and the gracious impulse of the Holy 
Spirit, to turn my attention particularly to the word of God — 
to search the Scriptures to see whether those things in them 
which relate to wine and strong drink, were, as they have been 
generally represented by commentators and critics, and admitted 
by the church in these last days to be — i. e. : Whether alcoholic 
liquors were or were not approved of by the all-powerful, all- 
wise, all-good Governor of the universe, as fit for man's use in 

*On the "Use and Abuse of Alcoholic Liquors in Health and Disease." By 
William Carpenter, M. D. London, 2nd ed., p. 9. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 35 

his normal state of health, and enjoined accordingly; or the 
reverse, in that perfect law which has been mercifully provided 
by the Bible, for his instruction and guidance in all questions 
of religion and morals, by its Divine author. Its sacred pages 
then — I am to search. Its testimony — I am to receive. Its 
doctrines, and the fair inferences to be drawn from them — I am 
to treasure up, and set forth as binding upon mankind at all 
times, and in all countries, concerning the reception of alcoholic 
liquors into the human system, and the effects thereof. For 
this great work, I feel myself utterly insufficient of myself. 
But I ask of Him whose cause it is, to fit me for, and to direct 
me in, the prosecution of it, — trusting in the promises of the 
''Faithful Promiser," who hath said: "If any of you lack 
wisdom, let him ask of God — that giveth to all men liberally 
and upbraideth not — and it shall be given him." " Fear thou 
not, for I am with thee ; be not dismayed, for I am thy God. 
I will strengthen thee, yea I will help thee, yea I will uphold 
thee with the right hand of my righteousness." "Ask and it 
shall be given you ; seek and ye shall find ; knock and it shall 
be opened unto you." " Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, 
and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways 
acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." 

I solicit your prayers, and those of all good men, that the 
word of the Lord in this department of Christian morals may 
be fulfilled — for thus hath He spoken : "So shall my word be, 
that goeth forth out of my mouth : it shall not return unto me 
void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall 
prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." 

The subject may be treated of in the following order, and 
under the following heads : 

I. The teachings of science and the Bible, respecting drunk- 
enness or its equivalent, poisoning, in relation to the brain and 
mind of man. 






36 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

II. The injunctions contained in the Bible, forbidding the 
use of wine or strong drink to priests and kings. 

III. The alarming and opprobrious epithets given to wine 
iand strong drink, in the Bible. 

IV. The greatest possible distance, from alcoholic drinks, 
enjoined by Solomon — in the Bible. 

Y. The Lord's Supper. 

Believe me, my dear friend, 

Yours affectionately in Christ Jesus, 

JOHN MAIB. 

LETTER VII. 

My Dear Sir, 

" Poison ! What is a poison ? Positively, it is 
any kind of matter which has, in any degree, the quality of dis- 
turbing or degrading the natural functions or organs of the 
human body. Negatively, it is matter which cannot fulfil the 
purposes or supply the place of food or drink — or which can do 
so in no degree innocently or permanently. " # 

According to the views of Dr. Carpenter, already referred to, 
it is correct to substitute the word poisoning, for drunkenness, 
in all its stages. The same distinguished authority will justify 
the employment of the different derivations from the same root, 
to express the different modifications of poisoning, &c. Thus, 
the men who drink alcoholic liquors, are self-poisoners ; those 
who give them to others to drink, are the poisoners of their 
fellows ; those who manufacture them, are the manufacturers 
of poison ; those who sell them to all and sundry who ask for 
them, are the venders of poison; or, in the true but frightful 
language of Wesley, "poisoners general." Those who license 
the distillation and sale of them, are the encouragers of, and 
legalizers of poison-making and poison-scattering far and wide, 
for the sake of money, to the signal injury of mankind. And 

* Dr. McCulloch. The Alliance Weekly News, March 14, 1857. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 37 

those who are, or have been the original source whence the 
mass of these evil doings, and of all the pollution, social suffer- 
ing and domestic wretchedness, connected with these doings, 
have proceeded : Who are they ? where are they to be found ? 
and what name belongs to them ? It would be premature to 
attempt to reply to these questions at present. In the course 
of this investigation, facts may be elicited, and revelations 
made which may throw light upon the subject. 

If alcoholic liquors, when received into the human system in 
a state of health, are always injurious to man — and when taken 
in sufficient quantities, prove fatal — they ought to be shunned by 
him. If otherwise — and a line may be drawn, up to which they 
may be used without injury, but beyond which they cannot 
be so used — the question may reasonably be put : What is that 
line ? or, at what degree of the alcohometer is it to be found ? 

If discoverable, let it by all means be discovered, and made 
known for the benefit of mankind, as most important for the 
regulation of their conduct. 

For my own part, I believe it to be a matter of impossibility 
for man to discover such a line as shall clearly denote the 
boundary between moderation and excess, (if such a boundary 
there be, except in the imagination) ; a line which shall rightly 
proclaim to all: "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no farther." 
Miller, in his late work, mentioned in a former letter, — "Alco- 
hol, its Place and Power," — says, when alcohol is administered 
as a medicine : " That both a careful and skilful management 
of the remedy is required. Like other poiso?is, it is not to 
be rashly and empirically prescribed, or the dosing fixed by 
routine. The case must be suitable; the disease and the 
necessity for the remedy must be there ; the dosing must be 
well adjusted at starting, and its effects must be carefully 
watched, in order that it may be duly regulated accordingly. "* 

* "Alcohol, its Place and Power,"— p. 33. 
4 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 



Moreover, no man, as far as I know, has ever attempted to 
draw this imaginary line, although many have speculated about 
it as a possibility. Upon the supposition that it is discoverable 
in any given case — if such judicious precautions are necessary 
in the administration of alcoholic liquors as a medicine for the 
sick, where their use may not only be lawful, but proper ; and 
if all the skill and attention of a wise and prudent physician 
are called into operation for the due adjustment of the dose to the 
case in hand — what wisdom, discretion, and careful watching 
would not be needed, in the healthy system, to seize the moment 
when the magic line should have been reached — a hair-breadth 
beyond which, a drop of alcohol would prove a poison to the 
unfortunate wight who should swallow it ? According to this 
view, a physician would be required for each person, when in 
the act of drinking alcoholic liquors ; and his undivided atten- 
tion would be indispensable for every individual case ; and 
every drop of the liquor would need to be measured out most 
carefully ; and every inspiration of the air, and every pulsation 
of the heart to be counted ; and every change of attitude, and 
feature of the face to be studied ; and every word uttered to be 
scrutinized, lest, in an unguarded moment, the subtle spirit 
should have crossed the critical pass, which, by some strange 
bewitchment, changes a harmless substance into a deadly 
poison ! A regular staff of qualified, salaried physicians would, 
therefore, be necessary appendages to every establishment 
licensed by government to sell spirituous liquors ; and no family, 
where they were indulged in, could dispense with one or more 
of the faculty in constant attendance. 

In no other way, that I can see, could justice be done to the 
health of the wine-bibbing community ; but perhaps the tax 
thus imposed for the support of boards of medical practitioners, 
might be considered too great to pay for the gratification of an 
appetite not natural to man or beast ! If so, the only safe 
alternative would be total abstinence from the perilous stuff. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 39 

Not to give further play to fanciful vagaries, however, let the 
question be submitted to the decision of eminent, practical, and 
scientific men, competent to pronounce a right judgment upon 
it — whether there is such a thing as moderation in the use of 
alcoholic drinks by man in his normal state of health ? 

Professor Youmans, in his masterly production, "The 
Scientific Basis of Prohibition," speaking of alcohol, expresses 
himself thus: "It is an inveterate foe of the intellectual 
and moral principle of man. In all its numberless forms, and 
in every quantity, it is the potent adversary of the mind. 
When alcoholic mixtures are drank, the very first effect that 
we perceive, is a perverted action of the mental faculties. A 
small quantity does not finish the work, but it begins it. It is 
the quality of wheat to nourish the body, but a small amount 
will not completely produce this effect, nor even protect from 
starvation ; still, the nature of all wheat, and in every grain of 
it, is to nourish and strengthen. So, also, with alcohol — a small 
quantity may not so poison the brain as to overthrow the mental 
fabric ; still, such are its essential nature and tendency in every 
form, and every drop. Its inroading effects upon mind are not 
restricted to the employment of excessive quantities : they 
follow from its common use. There is much said about the 
inoffensiveness of liquor, when taken in trifling amount ; but 
all this is little applicable to general practice. People do not 
take liquors in infinitesimal doses. They drink them to pro- 
duce a specific and positive alcoholic effect, and they demand 
and use enough for the purpose. Whatever may be said about 
'flavor,' 'aroma,' ' fruitiness,' 'body,' 'nutriment,' or other 
secondary properties of intoxicating liquor, if alcohol be absent, 
it is mockery to offer these in substitution. 

" We must bear in mind, that when a small portion of liquor . 
is taken — as a glass of wine — it is not mingled with the mass 
of the blood, and lost in the general system. This result is 
forbidden by the law of local aifinity. The alcohol is drawn 



40 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

out of the circulation into the nervous tissue, and the single 
dose, therefore, ceases to be insignificant. Although minute, 
when compared to the whole body, it becomes powerful when 
concentrated upon a single part. In the quantity, therefore, 
necessary to produce the agreeable exhilarating and stimulant 
effect for which it is used, alcohol so deranges brain action as 
to violate the harmony of the mind. The feelings become 
excited, the temper irritable, so that the individual is easily 
"touched," and provoked to acts of impropriety and violence, 
/ by causes which, under other circumstances, would be unheeded. 
Long before the speech thickens, and the motions falter, there 
is a firing of irrascible passions which leads to the commission 
of numberless offences, from two-edged utterances that wound 
the spirit, to homicidal thrusts that destroy the body." 

Thus Dr. Carpenter speaks upon this subject: " The state of 
mental excitement just described, is very similar to the incipient 
stage of phrenitis or mania. It is not a uniform exaltation 
of the mental faculties, but in some degree a perversion of 
them ; for that voluntary control over the current of thought, 
which is the distinguishing character of the sane mind of man, 
is considerably weakened, so that the heightened imagination, 
and the enlivened fancy have more unrestricted exercise ; and 
whilst ideas and images succeed each other in the mind with 
marvellous readiness, no single train of thought can be carried 
out with the same continuity as in a state of perfect sobriety. 
This weakening of all voluntary control over the mental opera- 
tions must be regarded, then, as an incipient stage of insanity." 

The following were the views of the late celebrated Dr. 
Gregory, professor of Chemistry in the university of Edinburgh, 
endorsed by the Rev. William Reid, editor of the well-known 
British Messenger: "The argument from science was entirely 
in favor of the temperance movement, because, while on the 
one hand they had the mere possibility that alcohol might not 
be injurious in certain conceivable, but rare circumstances ; on 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 41 

the other hand, in these circumstances, even where they did 
occur, alcohol was not the best agent, and they could always 
supply its place by other and better materials which were 
entirely free from its injurious qualities." 

He (Mr. Reid,) took the ground thus given him by Dr. 
Gregory, and contended that the poison should be dealt with 
simply as other poisons were being dealt with. Arsenic, for 
example, was found some years ago to be the instrument of 
many murders and suicides ; an act was passed to prohibit its 
sale, except under very stringent regulations, and the result, 
according to the Lancet, (no friend to our cause,) was, that 
" murders and suicides by arsenic have become extremely 
rare."* 

The following admirable remarks are from the report of the 
speech of Dr. McCulloch, versus Dr. Laycock, delivered by 
him, at Edinburgh, March 6th, 1857.1 

"What is temperance, and moderation? We can correctly 
use these terms only in regard to what is wholesome, appro- 
priate and good— physically, morally and religiously. To 
speak of the moderate, or dietetic use of a poison, is an abuse 
of language that would be scouted and ridiculed, if applied to 
anything save the use of these popular intoxicants. Poison is 
the name of an intrinsic quality, and has no reference whatever 
to quantity, quantity being only considered in regard to extent 
of its poisonous effects. One grain of opium, or one drop of 
alcohol, therefore, is as much, and as truly a poison, as a pound, j 
or gallon. Food and drink are not poisons, and poisons never ' 
can be food or drink, in the true meaning of the terms. To hear ' 
men, then, who ought to know better, speak of them in recip- 
rocal terms, betrays a pitiable ignorance of the logical definition 
and nature of the things indicated. 

*The Alliance Weekly News, January 17th, 1857,— p. 311. 
f Id. March 14th, 1857. 



42 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

"Allow me to illustrate this analogically. First, take it 
morally. What would you think of a man who attempted to 
palliate or defend his falsehood and dishonesty, by pleading that 
he was a temperate liar, or a moderate thief ? Take it physi- 
cally. What would you think of another, who bragged that 
he ate arsenic and strychnine, and drank prussic acid and 
laudanum, temperately and moderately, as diet and refresh- 
ment ? 

"If these shock your sense of propriety, and are evidently 
absurd, how is it that many of you are blind to the equal 
absurdity in regard to these poisonous drinks ? Is it habit, 
custom, conventionality and fashion, which cause you to see 
the mote in the eye of the opium-eater, but blind you to the 
alcoholic beam in your own ? Alcohol is a poison ; total absti- 
nence from the dietetic use of these drinks in any shape, form, 
or quantity, is the only true — the only logical temperance and 
moderation in regard to them" 

These authorities, to which many more could be added, (with 
what has been said previously upon the subject in preceding 
letters,) may suffice to supply an answer to the question, 
" Whether there is such a thing as moderation in the use of 
k alcoholic liquors by man in his normal state of health ?" — in the 
negative. 

That being done, it will require no fresh argument to show, 
that even a regular staff of well informed, conscientious phys- 
icians attached to every tavern, would not be sufficient to prevent 
poisoning ; and that no medical science or skill in the domestic 
circle, would avert a similar result. Alcohol is the arch poison 
— the poison of poisons — which, at its first outset, aims at, and 
seizes upon the highest and noblest faculties of man's nature, 
which have God's image stamped upon them — with relentless 
grasp ; and afterwards invades those powers which he has, in 
common with the lower animals, in definite succession. 

"Physiologists are agreed that different parts of the brain are 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 43 

devoted to different uses. The first effect of alcohol is upon 
its higher and frontal portion, which is the seat of the intel- 
lectual and moral faculties. This part of the brain is excited 
by a small quantity of liquor, and when more is taken it becomes 
more deeply perverted, and the hinder and lower portion of 
the organ, which controls the nerves of motion, is attacked, \ 
and the individual loses the faculty of perfectly governing or J 
regulating the bodily movements. When a still greater quantity , 
is drunk, the action of that part which is devoted to the higher 
sentiments, seems utterly suspended, the power of voluntary 
motion is lost, and the poison passes downward to the extreme 
lower portion of the organ, which is connected with the spinal , 
cord, and has charge of the respiratory process. The breathing 
is thus interfered with, and becomes heavy and labored, as we 
see in dead-drunkenness. The mind cannot serve two masters ; 
just in proportion as it is surrendered to the influence of an 
external force, which invades it through the brain, it ceases to 
be in its own keeping. With the sparkles and effervescence of 
alcoholic excitement, there is a weakening of the regulating and 
restraining forces by which the mind manages its own move- 
ments — a partial loss of that voluntary control over the mental \ 
operations, which, as Dr. Carpenter remarks, ' must be regarded 
as an incipient stage of insanity.'' At the same time, the 
lower passions and propensities are aroused to inordinate activity. 
In healthful mental conditions, these press powerfully upon the 
higher controlling sentiments, and from their reaction results 
moral equilibrium of character. The influence of alcohol is 
thrown entirely in the scale of the animal impulses against the 
reason, judgment, and conscience ; and it is evident that where 
these are just able to hold the baser passions in subjection, and 
maintain the mind's equipoise, the effect of the disturbing agent 
must be to destroy the mental balance, and tell disastrously 
upon the conduct. That when liquors are taken in sufficient 
quantity to produce their characteristic and desired effect, the 



44 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

mind is some way jostled and disturbed, no observing person 
can doubt ; and that this disturbance, however trifling it may 
be, consists in replacing the reasoning and voluntary powers by 
blind passional forces in the mind's government, is proved by 
the fact, that if more of the stimulant be taken, the revolution 
becomes complete ; reason is entirely prostrated, and brute 
impulse is in the ascendant. In intoxication, the action of 
the brain is so deeply perverted as to completely unhinge the 
mind ; thought is confused and bewildered ; self-directing power 
is lost ; the passions are stimulated to unrestrained fury, and 
the whole mental fabric is swamped amid the surges of delirium. 
Intoxication is universally admitted to be a state of temporary 
insanity. To 'intoxicate,' says Webster, is 'to excite the 
spirits to a kind of delirium ; to elate to enthusiasm, frenzy, 
or madness.' That such is the effect of alcoholic liquors, is 
shown by the fact that they are universally known as ' intoxi- 
cating liquors.' Thus, the common term by which they are 
designated, connects them at once with man's mental constitu- 
tion, as a cause of frenzy, delirium, and madness. " # 

It is this affinity of alcohol for the brain of man, (as Dr. 
Percy would call it,) and especially its predilection for the 
seat of the exalting, and self-governing powers of reason, 
conscience, and will, which renders it a poison so much to be 
dreaded and denounced by all who seek the glory of God, and 
desire not only to preserve unharmed, but to improve and 
strengthen these noble faculties.! 

Here, it may be proper to introduce the following clear and 
concise account of the laws of narcotic poisons, from the pen of 
Dr. McCulloch : "The physiological laws of narcotic poisons, 
are principally four in number : 



* Youmans' Scientific Basis of Prohibition. 

\ Prize Thesis. "An experimental inquiry concerning the presence of alcohol 
in the ventricles of the brain." By John Percy, M. D. p. 104. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 45 

" 1st. That after using them for some time, the quantity of 
the dose must be increased in order to produce the same effect : 

"2d. That the time between the doses must also be dimin- 
ished, for the same reason : 

" 3d. That the depression and exhaustion which follow, are 
exactly equivalent to the amount of excitement or exhilaration 
caused by the quantity used : 

" 4th. That they — many of them — tend to create an artificial 
appetite or craving, which renders the person so using them, 
a slave to the habit." 

Having thus endeavored to show that alcohol is a brain- 
poison, first perverting the noble and self-governing powers of 
man, viz : reason, conscience and will, and then exciting to 
undue action the passions and propensities which he has, in 
common with the lower animals — destroying the mental balance, 
and impelling to acts of outrage and infamy ; and further, that 
if small portions could be taken with impunity (which cannot 
be proved, and is rendered improbable by the experiments of 
Dr. Percy, indicating that the substance of the brain has a 
particular affinity for alcohol, and receives a larger proportion 
of it than the other parts of the body, attracting it to itself as 
the magnet does iron), there is no possibility of drawing a line 
between the harmless and injurious effects thereof, upon man in 
his normal state of health, —and as there is no instinct which 
will warn him when to stop — as in the case of wholesome food 
or drink — but on the other hand, as has been pointed out above, 
the cry which it has a tendency to emit is like that of "the 
horseleech's two daughters: give, give," continually; there- 
fore, no general rules can be laid down by which it can be safely 
administered to man in his normal state of health; and as it 
is impossible that all men can have physicians to watch over 
them day and night, therefore its prohibition becomes a practi- 
cal necessity, for man's well being and well doing. 

So much for the scientific argument against alcohol, and com- 



46 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

mon sense would return the same just verdict, if common sense 
were not biased and restrained by the alcohol drinking habit, so 
firmly rooted in the corrupt soil of traditionary, superstitious 
veneration for that poison.; because it has been erroneously (as 
I believe,) supposed, that the Holy Scriptures are favorable to 
its use. Let it then be assumed, for the sake of argument, 
that science and common sense heartily unite in condemning 
the employment of alcohol for ordinary purposes, and only 
tolerate its use when cautiously administered under judicious 
medical superintendence — in peculiar cases of disease — as is 
clone with deadly nightshade, wolfsbane, and other poisons of 
the same class. Would it not thus be rendered probable, nay, 
certain, that God would ratify this two-fold testimony, concern- 
ing alcohol, in His written word (if true, and if He should 
prescribe rules concerning it there), according to the well 
established principle before referred to, that the God of nature 
and of grace is one, and therefore cannot contradict Himself; 
so that the law discovered by science, and corroborated by 
common sense, should be found essentially to correspond with 
the word which perfect wisdom has graciously provided as "a 
lamp unto the feet, and a light unto the path " of His stray- 
ing children, whom He originally created in his own image ? 
In future letters, God willing, this principle will be illustrated. 
In the meantime, believe me to be, 
Yours affectionately, 

JOHN MAIR. 



LETTER VIII. 

My Dear Sir, 

Having, in my last letter, I trust, made it plain 
by competent evidence, that alcohol is an active brain-poison, 
laying hold of the seat of the noblest intellectual and moral 
faculties of man, and perverting them ; and that common sense if 
free to speak, and unrestrained by prejudice, tradition and super- 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 47 

stition, would chime in with this conclusion ; and having, more- 
over, shown that all use of alcoholic liquors ought to be avoided 
by man in his normal state of health, either because — as seems 
probable from the nature of the case, and the experiments of 
Dr. Percy — the smallest quantity may prove injurious to him ; 
or, because no line of demarcation can be drawn between the 
harmless and hurtful effects of alcohol, I now beg you to 
accompany me into the Scriptural inquiry, regarding alcoholic 
liquors, bearing in mind that I intend to make free use of the 
term poisoning, interchangeably with drunkenness ; and, as 
poisoning can proceed from no other cause than the application 
of poison, I shall also feel justified in substituting the term 
poison, or brain-poison for alcohol, and poisonous liquor for 
any liquor which contains a notable quantity of the same. 

In approaching the sacred precincts of the house of God, to 
inquire in His temple about temperance, we may, I apprehend, 
safely intrust ourselves to the guidance of that immortal alle- 
gorist, John Bunyan, the dreamer, whose dreams far excel 
most men's waking thoughts. What, then, does he say, in his 
racy, vigorous, homely style, about our duty in regard to eating 
and drinking ? 

He thus speaks through the mouth of Discretion : " Only this 
general rule ought to be observed, that we forbear eating and 
drinking such things as we find by experience, or know by 
common observation to be prejudicial to health, impediments to 
virtue and devotion, spurs to vice and passion, by intoxicating 
the brain, heating the blood, disordering the spirits, or by any 
other way being subservient to the works of the flesh, or the 
temptations of the Devil. In so doing, we shall do well." 

Let it be remarked here, that "decidedly the first of alle- 
gorists" — as the historian Macaulay calls him — was, perhaps, 
the first of toxicologists to make use of the term "intoxicating 
the brain," or poisoning the brain; a term so frequently and 
justly applied to alcohol, in recent times, by those who have 



48 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

gone most fully and scientifically into the consideration of that 
direst of poisons.* 

Let us notice, however, that he appeals to experience and 
observation only, as our teachers. He does not refer "to the 
law and the testimony of God " as affording specific instructions 
in regard to brain-intoxicating, or poisonous alcoholic drinks. 
But, were John Bunyan to arise from the dead now, and make 
himself acquainted with the science and statistics of alcohol of 
our day, would not the words uttered by him, as given above, 
seem to him to have been prophetic of its evil effects as they 
have since transpired in the world ? "Would not the words 
"intoxicating the brain" appear to him aptly to designate 
its action upon that vital organ ? and would not numerous 
passages of Scripture flash at once upon his enlightened mind, 
which would convince him that God had expressly forbidden 
the use of that poison by man in his normal state of health ? 

One step more, and we are within the sacred precincts, where 
the Most High God, with a voice like thunder pealing from the 
clouds of heaven, or as " the sound of many waters," gives forth 
the lively oracles for the moral government of men. And now, 
let us " put off our shoes from off our feet, for the place whereon 
we stand is holy ground." (Exodus iii, 5.) 

"Their wine (that of idolaters,) is the poison of dragons, and 
the cruel venom of asps/' (Deut. xxxii, 33,) contrasted with 
"the pure blood of the grape," (Deut. xxxii, 14,) one of the 

* Perhaps the striking remarks of Cyrus, to his grandfather, Astyages, when 
he was acting as his cup-bearer, ought to give him the precedence in this 
matter, as the first, in profane history, to notice the poisonous nature of alco- 
holic drinks. The reason he assigned for not tasting the cup, was, because he 
apprehended there was poison in the liquor. (i Poison, child!" exclaimed 
the astonished grandsire, " How could you think so V 9 6i Yes, poison, papa; 
for not long ago, at an entertainment you gave to the lords of your Court — and 
after the guests had drank a little of this liquor, I perceived all their heads 
were turned; and when you would have danced, you could not stand upon 
your legs." — [Rollings Ancient History. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 49 

blessings held out to the Israelites in the Holy Land. Now it 
is worthy of remark, that this is the only passage of Holy Scrip- 
ture, as far as I know, where a deadly animal poison, of the 
reptile tribe, is made use of to illustrate the nature of another 
material poison, viz : alcohol, the product of the decomposition 
of " he fruit of the vine." 

All the other passages enumerated by Eadie, in his Concord- 
ance, where the term poison is figuratively used, have immediate 
reference to- the judgments of God, or moral evil. I give a 
list of the same, that they may be examined, by those who are 
interested in the question : Job vi, 4 : xx, 16 ; Psalm lviii, 4 ; 
Psalm cxl, 3 ; Romans iii, 13 ; James iii, 8. 

Is there not something to be gathered from this singular 
fact? Does it not tend to show that alcohol is no ordinary 
poison, but that it possesses qualities assimilating it to the 
poison of serpents, which render it peculiarly the enemy of 
man, to be shunned by him, as venomous reptiles are, almost 
instinctively ? Are we not thus forcibly reminded of the 
Seducer of onr first parents — that Evil Spirit 

iC Who brought death into our world 
And all our woe 5 
With loss of Eden;' 5 

and who has made more havoc of the human race, in a physical, 
intellectual, moral and spiritual point of view, probably by this 
one poison, alcohol, than by all the other poisons of the animal, 
vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, heaped together into one vast, 
putrid mass, rankling with corruption, and sending forth noxious 
exhalations to blast and to destroy ! Would it not seem by this, 
(one of the earliest notices of alcohol in Scripture,) to have 
had the brand of infamy purposely stamped upon it by the 
Almighty, when the human race were still in their pupilage ; 
that by its persistent association with the " great Dragon, that 
old Serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the 
whole world," alcohol might forever after retain its place in 
5 



50 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

the memories of all mankind, exciting horror, detestation, and 
disgust in their breasts, and causing them to shrink from it as 
a most cruel and treacherous enemy ? 

If these observations be correct, then it follows that alcohol, 
in the Scripture sense, is a terrific poison; and thus we have 
an additional reason for using the phrase poisoning, instead of 
drunkenness, when it seems meet, in our future inquiries. 

Let us now turn our attention to Ephesians v, 18 : "Be 
not drunk (poisoned,) with wine, wherein is excess ; (asotia — 
alcohol — insalvability,) but be filled with the spirit :" which, in 
plain English, amounts to this, — have nothing to do with drink 
containing the poison alcohol ; or, do not drink of any liquor 
containing alcohol, which is the deadly enemy of man's 
salvation. I give this interpretation for the following reasons : 
It is in the spirit of the original, but without a tithe of its power. 
Who will not admit this, who has read the passage just quoted, 
from the mouth of the great lawgiver of the Jews — Moses ? 
Who has ever inhabited a region infested with poisonous serpents 
and other poisonous reptiles, and has not been upon his watch 
lest he should unawares, tread upon one of them, and have his 
flesh transfixed with its fangs, and die a miserable death ? And, 
should not the man, who knows the body-and-soul-destroying 
nature of alcoholic poison, in this age of wide-spread, accurate 
knowledge regarding it, be still more on his guard, lest, like 
the fabulous serpent, it should allure him to his temporal, and 
not only that, but to his eternal ruin also ? 

Science gives its support to the same honest interpretation 
of the passage, and so would common sense, if she had not 
herself been intoxicated with the fumes of alcohol, sent forth 
from christian altars, kindled by the sparks from the strange fire 
of pagan incense ! 

But other portions of Scripture can be brought to strengthen 
this argument: "Ye are all the children of light, and the 
children of the day ; we are not of the night, nor of darkness. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 51 

Therefore, let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch, and 
be sober;" (nephomen, abstinent, especially in respect to wine # ); 
I Thess. y, 5, 6 : " For they that sleep, sleep in the night ; and 
they that be drunken, (poisoned,) are drunken (poisoned,) in 
the night." " But let us who are of the clay be sober, (absti- 
nent from wine,) putting on the breast-plate of faith and love ; 
and for an helmet, the hope of salvation:" I Thess. v, 7, 8. 
" Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober (absti- 
nent from wine,) and hope to the end," &c. : I Peter i, 13. "But 
the end of all things is at hand ; be ye therefore sober (absti- 
nent from wine,) and watch unto prayer :" I Peter iv, 7. " Be 
sober, (abstinent from wine,) because your adversary, the Devil, 
as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour :" 
I Peter v, 8. 

The following beautiful quotation, from Coleridge, may be 
aptly introduced here : "A language will often be wiser, not 
merely than the vulgar, but even than the wisest of those who 
speak it ; being like amber in its efficacy to circulate the electric 
spirit of truth, it is also like amber in embalming and preserving 
the relics of ancient wisdom, although one is not seldom puzzled 
to decipher its contents. Sometimes it locks up truths which 
were once well known, but which, in the course of ages, have 
passed out of sight and been forgotten." May it not be said of 
the word ?iepho, e ne et pio — nun biho — I do not drink the 
" wine wherein is excess " — that it belongs to this class ; that it 
has locked up a truth which was well known to the Jews and 
Christians, in apostolic times, "but which, in the course of ages, 
has passed out of sight and has been forgotten," viz: that 
total abstinence from alcoholic liquors is the explicit doctrine 
of the christian religion ? 

If so, is it not full time that it should be unlocked ; and 

* Greek and English Lexicon of the New Testament. By Edward Robinson, 
D. D.j etc. A new edition, carefully revised and corrected by S. T. Bloomfield, 
D. D. London, 1839. 



52 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

that the truth, so long concealed, should be disclosed for the 
admiration and hearty reception of all lovers of genuine tempe- 
rance, and of mankind ; and, that the knowledge of that truth 
should spread, with electric speed, "from sea to sea, and from 
the riyer to the ends of the earth;" and, that an anthem of 
praise and rejoicing be sung by all nations, ascribing "blessing, 
and honor, and glory, and power, unto Him that sitteth upon 
the throne, and to the Lamb forever and ever?" "Alleluia, 
for the Lord, God Omnipotent reigneth." "Grace unto you, 
and peace be multiplied." 

I am, my dear brother, 

Yours affectionately, 

In christian bonds, 

JOHN MAIR. 



LETTER IX. 

My Dear Sir, 

A few more comments may be offered upon 
I Thess. v, 5-8. I have ventured to give a perfectly anti- 
alcoholic interpretation of Ephesians v, 18 ; and I now proceed 
to adduce additional reasons for interpreting the following 
passage in the same manner: "Ye are all the children of the 
light, and the children of the day; we are not of the night, nor 
of darkness. Therefore, let us watch and be sober : (abstinent 
from wine, wherein is excess) : For they that sleep, sleep in the 
night; and they that be drunken, (poisoned,) are drunken 
(poisoned,) in the night ; but let us, who are of the day, be 
sober;" (abstinent from wine, wherein is excess): I Thess. v, 
5-8. According to the ordinary, popular sense of the terms 
" drunk " and " sober," quoted above ; or, of the abstract terms 
corresponding to them, " drunkenness " and "sobriety," the 
one is contrary to the other ; but, if we attempt anything like 
scientific accuracy, we must view them as only different degrees 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 53 

of intoxication, the one constituting an incipient, and the other 
an advanced stage of alcoholic poisoning ; or, at least, sobriety, 
according to the common acceptation of the term, may co-exist 
with an abnormal change wrought upon the person by alcohol. 
To illustrate this — a man, in vulgar estimation and parlance, 
would be considered sober, who should be able to stand or move 
in a becoming manner, in obedience to the word of command ; 
(if a soldier, to go through his facings) ; whose speech should 
not be inarticulate, or incoherent ; his face not flushed ; and 
whose natural and animal functions should present no marked 
perversion, obvious to the beholder, &c, ; and he would only 
then be judged drunk, when his face should appear flushed, or 
swollen ; his eyes vacant and blood-shot ; his expression sottish ; 
his speech inarticulate, or incoherent; his walk unsteady, or 
zig-zag — his behaviour eccentric and at variance with his 
natural character, either by unwonted sullenness and silence, 
or by vivacity and talkativeness ; or he should present more, or 
fewer of this group of symptoms, &c. ; and yet, in the former 
case, as truly, though not so intensely as in the latter, the man 
would have been poisoned by alcohol, if from its use, his 
circulation had become hurried, his imagination excited, his 
self-control lessened, so that he could not prevent wild, or 
vicious fancies from running their course ; make nice and 
accurate distinctions between delicate shades of good and evil, 
and act accordingly ; give judgment on any difficult point at 
issue ; feel devoutly inclined, and capable of engaging in 
prayer to God, with faith, fear and fervor, and of faithfully 
observing His ordinances, as he otherwise could (cateris 
paribus,) have done : all of which duties, in their proper 
season, are, or may be required, and ought to be performed b}~ 
all men according to the Divine law, which is equally binding 
upon all men. Now all who know the deceitful and insidious 
nature of alcoholic poison, and are familiar with its effect*, 
know, full well, that the condition just described as a sober 



54 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

condition, precedes the condition previously sketched, which is 
commonly called drunkenness, and slides into it by imperceptible 
degrees. But we cannot possibly conceive of the man who is 
thus sober, alias, in vulgar phraseology, not drunk, being in 
that sound state of mind which the Scripture, above quoted, 
as emanating from the Holy Spirit, demands — whatever popular 
opinion may be upon the subject; but we must believe, that if 
he acted voluntarily, when he brought himself into that state, 
that he poisoned himself, violated the Divine law, and sinned 
in God's sight ; and this, we maintain to be the doctrine of 
natural religion — but how much more of revelation ; for the 
apostle Paul, as moved by the Holy Spirit, has said: "Let us 
watch and be sober:" (or rather abstinent from wine, wherein 
is excess — insalvability : ) " For they that sleep, sleep in the 
night; and they that be drunken, (poisoned,) are drunken 
(poisoned,) in the night; but let us, who are of the day, be 
sober, (abstinent from wine, wherein is insalvability.") 

We conclude, then, (for I trust I have your concurrence in 
the argument,) that both natural and revealed religion condemn 
the use of alcoholic liquor by man in his normal state of health, 
whatever may be said to the contrary notwithstanding ; and 
we are of the opinion that the terms "drunken" and "sober," 
respectively, should be exchanged for poisoned and abstinent, 
(from wine, wherein is excess,) to prevent ambiguity. The , 
term drunk, may originally have expressed all that was wanted, 
with precisio?i ; but it has lost its strict, genuine meaning, from 
corrupt association with false and untenable, so called Scriptu- 
ral doctrines, concerning alcohol, or wine containing it ; doctrines 
which represent that poison as a "good creature of God," and 
lead its votaries impiously to call it by the holy name of 
"water of life," and to consider it a panacea for all the ills 
which flesh is heir to ; doctrines, which, instead of deterring from 
the use of alcoholic drinks in the smallest quantity, have served 
to lull asleep all suspicions of danger at the outset, (when real 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 55 

danger exists, and when alone it can be arrested,) and instead 
of restraining, have encouraged and afforded the most powerful 
motives to indulgence in these poisonous drinks, by awarding 
to their use, the dignity of a social virtue, if not a christian 
grace. Moreover, to the man in the intermediate states — 
between the first sensible impressions made upon the stomach 
and the brain by the poison, and the succeeding condition of 
bestial drunkenness, — attractive and imposing epithets have 
been given, such as being comfortable, exhilarated, invigorated, 
refreshed, and so forth ; all tending to lead poor, sinful human 
nature, far, far away from God and happiness ; to build up 
Satan's kingdom, and undermine the kingdom of our Lord and 
Saviour Jesus Christ ! 

The same principles apply to the term " sober," as to 
"drunk." They both, in their accredited popular sense, 
permit the moderate use of alcoholic liquors, and consequently 
give free license to drink the first glass. Nevertheless, " Ce 
rfest que le premier pas qui coute:" " Principiis obsta:" 
" Stop at the beginning :" " Look not thou upon the wine when 
it is red :" " Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth." 
In plain language, total abstinence is the only true philosophy, 
and sound Bible morality in regard to alcoholic drinks. That it 
is sound Bible morality, will hardly be denied by any unpreju- 
diced person, who will candidly examine the argument con- 
tained in this and preceding letters ; and that it is the only true 
philosophy concerning alcoholic drinks, has been clearly and 
ably taught in the following admirable passage, by Youmans, 
in the "Scientific Basis of Prohibition," which maybe said, 
in a few words, to contain the pith and marrow of anti-alcoholic 
temperance : 

"It is in vain to urge that government lends its sanction 
only to the moderate employment of alcoholic beverages, and 
reprobates their excessive use. This is impossible. Govern- 
me?it cannot fix the magic line, up to which, indulgence is safe 



56 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

and commendable, and beyond which, it is dangerous and to 
be prohibited. Government must either consent to the habit 
through all its imperceptible degrees of growth, or it must 
entirely interdict it. In this case, the beginning is every- 
thing. Put out your shoot in the soil, and the forces of 
nature will take care that it becomes a tree. Start your 
drinking habit, and the laws of nature will see to it, that it 
shall grow and bear fruit of its kind. It is preposterous to 
attempt a defence of government, by saying it only justifies a 
commencement of drinking practices. As well might the culprit 
on trial for arson, plead innocence on the ground that he did 
not burn the dwelling, but only fired a train of combustibles 
that led to it." 

I trust it has been made sufficiently plain, that the mind of 
the Spirit, in I Thess. v, 5-8, as in the passage previously 
quoted from Ephesians v, 18, is, that by "drunken," is to be 
understood, one, in any degree, under the influence of alcoholic 
poison; and by "sober," one who is a total abstainer from 
"wine, wherein is excess," or any kind of alcoholic liquor, 
except in that state of the constitution where it can be used 
medicinally, i. e., beneficially under altered circumstances, or 
in a diseased, or abnormal condition thereof; and as these 
words "drunken" and "sober" do not convey that meaning, 
as above explained, it seems proper that they should be 
discarded, and the words "poisoning" and "abstinent," 
substituted for them. " How immense is the difference as to 
the light in which we shall learn to regard a sin, according as 
we have been wont to designate, and to hear it designated by 
a word which brings out its loathsomeness and deformity ; or 
by one which conceals these ; as when in Italy, during the 
period that poisoning was rifest, nobody was said to be poisoned ; 
it was only that the death of some was assisted (aiutata) ; or 
again, by one who seeks to turn the edge of the Divine 
threatenings against it by a jest, as when in France a subtle 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 57 

poison, by which impatient heirs delivered themselves from 
those who stood between them and the inheritance which they 
coveted, was called " poudre de succession."* 

Do not these emphatic words apply to deaths, of daily occur- 
rence, from alcoholic poison ? How are these deaths repre- 
sented, in most instances, in the papers ? Do not coroners and 
their juries frequently return poisoning with alcohol, as deaths 
" by the visitation of God?" How dishonoring to Jehovah is 
this ! How blasphemous to screen human guilt under the 
broad covering of Divine Sovereignty, instead of bringing the 
crimes home to the perpetrators of them— in most cases, the 
licensed dealers in wines and spirituous liquors, who bask in 
the sunshine of royal or republican indulgence. 

The following extracts from the Alliance Weekly News, 
March 14th, 1857, tend to illustrate and confirm the truth of 
these observations : 

824. John Knowles dies suddenly whilst " very drunk;" was 
much in the habit of drinking rum, and used to suffer much 
after fits of drinking ; yet the coroner's jury return a verdict : 
"Died from natural causes, by the visitation of God," Feb- 
ruary 25. 

825. John Davis staggers home from the public house, quite 
drunk ; while undressing, he falls backward and injures his 
spine, so that he dies from the effects. Verdict: "Accidental 
death," February 28. 

When death is caused by neglect or carelessness, our juries 
make their verdict with a note of censure ; but when grog- 
selling has been the real cause, they are mostly willing to 
charge the blame on "accident," or any other "scape-goat." 

The doctrine being, I trust, established upon the basis, both 
of science and Scripture, that total abstinence from intoxi- 
cating drinks is the law of God, (as far as the portion of 

*"On the Study of Words." R. C. Trench, B. D. Published, &c, New 
York, 1855. p. 60. 



7 



58 BIBLICAL TEMPERxVNCE. 

revealed truth, already examined, have to do with it,) a glance 
may now be taken of some other portions of Holy Writ, 
relative to drunkenness. " He (Noah,) drank of the wine, and 
was drunken, (poisoned,) and he was uncovered within his tent :" 
(Genesis ix, 21.) After uttering a memorable prophecy, in 
which Canaan was cursed, and Shem and Japhet 1 lessee!, Noah's 
light was extinguished ; he is no more heard of in the Mosaic 
narrative, although he lived three hundred and fifty years after 
the flood. It appears, from the statement of the inspired 
historian, (verse 24,) that "Noah awoke from his wine, and 
knew what his younger son had done unto him." Are we not 
to understand by this that Canaan, his grandson, was the 
individual who gave to him the poisoned cup ? 

May he not have been trained to wickedness by his father, 
Ham ? He, evidently, had a very different character from the 
twp other brothers, Shem and Japhet, — for he saw the naked- 
ness of his father, and told his two brothers without ; while, in 
contrast to his indecent and unfilial conduct, they " took a 
garment and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went back- 
wards and covered the nakedness of their father, and their 
faces were backward and they saw not their father's naked- 
ness:" (verse 23.) In connection with this, see Hab. ii, 15, 
where it is written: "Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor 
drink : that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken 
also, that thou may est look upon his nakedness." Is not this 
the key to the explanation of the conduct of Noah, and his 
wicked son and grandson, Ham and Canaan ? The curse came 
upon the descendants of both, and no doubt both took part 
in this base transaction. 

It is here worthy of remark, that African slavery took its rise 
in an act of drunkenness ! How many fathers, since those days, 
have taught their sons to be drunkards, and to revel in sensual 
indulgence, after the example of Ham and Canaan ? How 
few, alas ! have been imitators of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 59 

and have inherited a blessing from the Lord, because they obeyed 
the voice of their sire, and abstained from wine and strong 
drink according to his commandment. (Jeremiah xxxv, 5-8.) 
" They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken (brain- 
poisoned,) man :" (Psalm cvii, 27.) 

"This is the effect of alcoholic poison, when taken in such 
quantity as to impair the functions of the deeper and posterior 
parts of the brain, connected with special sense and muscular 
power: " Thus sight and hearing are affected, the limbs grow 
weak and tottering, the head swims, the tongue refuses distinct 
articulation, — at the same time, intellectual excitement becomes 
more and more decidedly intellectual perversion, partaking of 
the nature of delirium ; reason is at discount, and voluntary 
control placed more and more in abeyance. " # 

"Drink ye and be drunken, (poisoned,) and spue, and fall, 
and rise no more:" (Jeremiah xxv, 27.) How many wise, 
mighty, nolle, yea, and religious men also, have fallen, never 
to rise again, beginning with the so-called moderate use of 
alcoholic liquors ; and yet, men are found, and scientific men 
too, who hesitate not, with a face of no ordinary effrontery, to 
affirm, that " the drinking just so much as promotes the comfort 
and well-being of an individual, at any particular time, of which, 
each person must be his own judge, is temperate drinking." I 
envy not the man who could thus speak. I cordially concur 
with you, " That there is no such thing as ' temperate drinking.' 
That alcohol, in all its forms, is poisonous ; that alcoholic 
drinks when taken (in health,) are always injurious ; consequently 
there can be no temperance in the use of them (as a beverage 
in health,) any more than of arsenic ; or, in other words, all 
use (as beverage in health,) is abuse." 

May the following eloquent words of truth and soberness, 
which you have uttered, prove a salutary warning to all who 

* "Alcohol, its Place and Power." By James Miller, F. R. S. E., p. 15. 



60 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

are disposed to listen to false — however palatable and specious — 
doctrines of the advocates of moderate drinking, according to 
Dr. Hun's definition of it : 

"The advocacy of downright drunkenness, in its most dis- 
gusting forms, would not be half so much to be deprecated as 
the advocacy of such moderate use of intoxicating poisons as 
you have authorized ; which use imperceptibly, and by a necessity 
of nature, leads to drunkenness ; and not half so much to be 
deprecated, because the advocacy of the former would not be 
half so full of clanger, either to the risen or the rising genera- 
tion, as the advocacy of the latter. 

"It is not the example of the ragged, squalid drunkard, 
who wallows in the gutter by day, and returns in the spirit of 
a fiend, at night, to his hovel, to beat his children, and inflict 
on her who bore them a still severer vengeance ; it is not the 
example of this man that allures the young and inexperienced 
to criminal indulgence. Such example carries its antidote 
along with it, in those attributes of degradation, and wretched- 
ness, and loathing, by which it is accompanied. Not so the 
example of the elegant, fashionable, temperate and moral wine- 
drinker. Here there is, at the outset, nothing to shock or 
revolt ; here temptation is presented in covert and alluring 
forms, and hence in forms most dangerous to virtue. Thus 
assaulted, many a young man of purity and promise has already 
been induced (abandoning the secure position of total absti- 
nence,) to take the inceptive step in that downward path of 
temperate drinking, which leads, by imperceptible degrees, to 
drunkenness and degradation. 

"Not a sot can be found in Christendom, whose career did 
not commence with moderate drinking ; and thus will terminate 
the downward movement of many whose career has already thus 
commenced. 

"What, then, is not to be apprehended from an attempt to 
bring the counsels of science to bear in aid of the incentives of 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 61 

pleasure ? What, when the pen and the press are employed, 
not in raising new barriers at the entrance of this road to 
death, but in breaking clown those which have already been 
planted there ? What, when in view of the banquet already 
bedecked with flowers, and accompanied by the fascinations of 
music, a voice (professing to be the voice of Wisdom) is uttered, 
not to inform the ignorant that poison is contained in the 
inebriating chalice ; not to inform the wavering that safety lies 
in abstinence ; in one word, not to warn away the unsuspecting 
from temptation ; but uttered, on the contrary, only to give 
assurance to all that ' temperate drinking consists in drinking 
just so much as promotes the comfort and well-being of the 
individual, at any particular time, without producing any subse- 
quent injury ; and that each person must judge for himself how 
far he can go with safety.' 

"Amid all the 'follies of this charlatan age,' to which you 
allude with so just a feeling of disapprobation, no announce- 
ment has been made, I apprehend, so full of peril as this, or so 
precisely calculated to disappoint the hopes of the parent, to 
corrupt the virtue of the child, to embitter the life of woman, 
and send a moral blight over the moralities of the entire 
community. 

"Let a young man, of convivial habits and feeble resolutions, 
adopt and follow out the counsel you have given, and his doom 
is certain ; and unless the course of nature changes, he will reach 
a dishonored end, and fill a drunkard's grave. Nor will even 
age secure, from such a doom, those who shall follow out such 
counsel. 

"It is wise to listen to the teachings of experience. And 
what, I ask, has, in times gone by, been the consequence of 
moderate drinking, and the history of moderate drinkers ? 

"The physician's diary, and the ages of the dead, chiseled 
on monumental marble in the graveyards which adjoin our city, 
will answer this interrogation. In view of these records of 
6 



62 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 



- 



what has been, who can look upon a family, however full 
of promise, where temperate drinking is tolerated, without 
shuddering at the thought of what awaits some, perhaps all of 
its members in future. 

"If the temperate use of the wines of France, with whose 
drinking usages you have become familiar, have induced, to 
such an extent, disease in the human stomach as Broussais, 
from actual dissections, declares, what must be expected from 
a similar use of the intenser poisons contained in the fabricated 
liquors manufactured and sold, and drank in this Republic ? 
Or, what must be thought of the wisdom of promulgating the 
license for their use, which you have promulgated ? and (unless 
counteracted,) what must be the consequence of its promulga- 
tion ? 

" Especially, what must be the consequences of its promulga- 
tion, by one charged not only with the duty of watching over 
the lives and the health of our citizens, but with the still 
graver duty of watching over the morals, and forming the 
characters of others to sustain elsewhere, and in future times, 
the same high office. 

"What must the millions of total abstinence citizens in this 
Republic think of an institution, planted at the capital of the 
Empire State, for the education of youth in the healing art, in 
which institution the salutary restraints, which an enlightened 
public opinion has recently imposed on the rising generation, 
are to be removed ; in which institution the efforts to banish 
the entire use of intoxicating poisons are to be counteracted, 
and in which those destined hereafter to stand at the side of 
the sick bed as sentinels, to watch those crises of disease on 
which the issues of life and death depend, are to be taught, in 
place of preserving that clearness of intellect and firmness of 
nerve which total abstinence secures, that it will be befitting 
for them to indulge in the moderate use of intoxicating liquors, 
and, that in place of considering that there is any fixed limit 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 63 

to that use -that must never be transgressed, that each ' must 
judge for himself how far he can go with safety.' 

" Who, that is interested in the character of our institutions, 
the health of our citizens, the morals of our youth, or the best 
interests of the human race, can fail to be afflicted at such an 
apparent retrograde movement in morals, as well as science, as 
the promulgation of such a license among us would seem to 
imply. 

" You say, ' One who crosses a river, runs some risk of being 
drowned;' and you ask, 'will you therefore say that the act of 
crossing the river produces a state of incipient asphyxia V I 
answer, I would not ; still, if that river were deep and rapid, 
and had proved fatal to thousands who had undertaken to ford 
it, I should advise all travelers to cross on the total abstinence 
bridge, where there was no danger of drowning, rather than 
encounter the current of the treacherous, moderate drinker's 
stream which flowed beneath ; and the children, too, sporting on 
the verge of its excavated banks, I should warn away, rather 
than encourage them to see how far they could wade out from 
the shore with safety. 

" Far be it from me to impute to you any design, by the advo- 
cacy of moderate drinking, to encourage inebriation. I doubt 
not you would shrink from the idea of corrupting, by your 
counsels, the rising generation ; or confirming the risen genera- 
tion in habits that must prove ruinous. Still, it is my deliberate 
and solemn conviction that your writings tend, and only tend, 
to do both. And an earnest anticipation of what they will 
hereafter effect, is furnished in the estimation in which they are 
held alike by the drunkard and the drinker, and in the encour- 
agement they have imparted to the hopes, and the confirmation 
they have given to the habits of both. 

" Trusting that the evils deprecated as the consequence of 
what you have already written, will, through the good provi- 
dence of God, be prevented ; and hoping that you will, ere 



64 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

long, yourself perceive that you are in a false position, and, 
changing that position, come to the aid of total abstinence — a 
practice safe and salutary, and worthy to he defended by the 
loftiest talents, and full of promise both to the church and the 
world. "■ — The Enquirer, No. 3, vol. 7, p. 127. 

" But now I have written unto you, if any man 
that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idola- 
ter, or a railer, or a drunkard, (alcoholic poisoner,) with such 
an one no not to eat:" (I Cor. v, 11.) "They are not all 
Israel who are of Israel:" (Romans ix, 6.) How many persons 
ought to be ejected from the church of Christ, (if the views 
given above, of drunkenness, be Scriptural,) whose society is 
now courted, and who form a very large proportion of those 
who frequent the house and table of the Lord ? 

" Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, 
adultery, fornication, murders, drunkenness, (poisoning,) revel- 
lings and such like : of the which I tell you before, as I have 
also told you in times past, that they which do such things 
shall not inherit the Kingdom of God :" (Gal. v, 19, 21.) 

If the views, above mentioned, be correct, is there not reason 
to fear that many of those who are now confident that they are 
"fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God," 
may come short of the promised rest, and never tread the 
golden streets of the New Jerusalem — drink of the water — or 
eat of the bread of life ? " There shall in no wise enter into 
it, anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomina- 
tions or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's 
book of life:" (Rev. xxi, 27.) 

My dear brother, 

Yours affectionately, 

JOHN MAIR. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 65 



LETTER X. 

My Dear Sir, 

The first Bible interdict of wine and strong drink, 
is to be found in Lev. x, 8-11. The words are: "And the 
Lord spake unto Aaron, saying, Do not drink wine nor strong 
drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the 
tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die : it shall be a statute 
for ever throughout your generations : and that ye may put 
difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and 
clean ; and that ye may teach the children of Israel all the 
statutes which the Lord hath spoken unto them by the hand of 
Moses." 

The awful event which was the occasion of the promulgation 
of this law, is recorded in the preceding verses of this chapter. 
Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, the High Priest, were 
destroyed by the igneous element (probably electric fire,) for 
offering strange fire before the Lord, thus disobeying the com- 
mandment (Exod. xxx, 9) which forbids the offering of strange 
incense upon the altar of incense. 

This crime seems to have consisted chiefly in contempt of 
God's way of receiving intercession for sin. The fire they used 
was their own fire, "sparks of their own kindling." But what 
was the cause of this misconduct ? Evidently the use of some 
intoxicating liquor, which had impaired their mental soundness, 
clouded their judgments, blunted their senses, inflamed their 
passions, and impelled them, in an infatuated and inebriated 
state, to rush impetuously into the holy place with strange fire, 
and draw down upon their guilty heads the fire of Divine 
vengeance! The command, "Do not drink wine," &c, in 
connexion with the sudden and awful death inflicted upon those 
priestly transgressors, and the reasons assigned for the specific 
prohibition, then for the first time published, cannot be other- 






6Q BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

wise accounted for. No doubt these anointed Priests knew that 
Noah had fallen into the sin of drunkenness, and Lot after him, 
and they should have been rigidly on their guard not to drink 
anything intoxicating, when about to engage in the sacred 
services of the tabernacle, so that they might have all their 
senses about them, and their moral and intellectual faculties 
clear and unimpaired when approaching the Most High God ; 
for He had said, " I will be sanctified in them that come nigh 
me, and before all the people I will be glorified:" (Lev. x, 3.) 

They committed two evils : 1st, they failed to distinguish 
between the wine, or liquor, which, in its nature, is " a mocker," 
and that which is innocent, and drank of that poisonous wine, 
or liquor ; and 2d, as the consequence of the preceding crime, 
they fell into the grievous sin of confounding things holy and 
profane, even the righteousness of Jesus, as symbolized by the 
sacred fire of the altar of burnt offering, and His all-prevailing 
intercession, as emanating from it, with their own inherent and 
acquired vileness and sinfulness! To prevent the recurrence 
of these evils, Jehovah ordained the law above referred to, 
viz : " Do not drink wine," &c. 

In considering this passage, a distinction should be made 
between the part of the law which is judicial, and applicable to 
the Jewish theocracy only, and that which is moral, and there- 
fore of perpetual obligation. The punishment of death was 
of the former class. The reasons assigned, for the declara- 
tive part of the law, prove that it belonged to the latter class. 

The very essence of the sin of drunkenness is here brought 
out by implication, viz : obscuration of the intellect, destruc- 
tion, or depravation of the moral sense, and paralysis of the 
heart, or that state of mind (using the term in its widest 
sense,) where the man is rendered incapable of distinguishing 
between holy and unholy, clean and unclean, and of teaching 
the precepts of God. The chain of causation is complete, 1st, 
the use of wine, or strong drink ; 2d, the obscuration and 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 67 

depravation of the moral sense and intellectual powers ; and 
3d, inability to teach the Divine statutes. 

But these are states of mind not peculiar to the Jewish 
priests, or people — not confined to any class, or nation. They 
are states of mind which exist everywhere, under the same 
circumstances, where the same causes are in operation ; and it 
may fairly be presumed, that it was because the duties of the 
priesthood were of immeasurably greater importance than those 
of the ordinary vocations of human life ; and because dishonor 
done to Jehovah, by that order of men, as exemplified in the 
inebriety of Nadab and Abihu, with its fatal consequences, 
must have been far more displeasing to Him, than any common 
breach of the Divine law ; that 'this statute was, at this time 
(B. C. 1490,) enacted, with special reference to Aaron and his 
lineal descendants. This does not hinder, however, the intelli- 
gent and spiritually minded reader of Scripture from applying 
the terms of the law to all men, especially to christians ; for it 
is plainly the duty of all men, everywhere, to aspire after the 
highest degree of intellectual and moral improvement of which 
they are capable; for God says, "Be ye holy, for I am holy," 
and " Be ye perfect, even as your Father in Heaven is perfect." 
But to be somewhat more particular in our examination of 
this remarkable law, in its immediate application to the Aaronic 
priesthood: — By the words " Do not drink wine nor strong 
drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the 
tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die : it shall be a statute 
for ever throughout your generations : and that ye may put 
difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and 
clean ; and that ye may teach the children of Israel all the 
statutes which the Lord hath spoken unto them by the hand of 
Moses ;" we are to understand, 1st, that the use of all intoxi- 
cating drinks was forbidden to the priests of Aaron's line, when 
going into, or officiating in the tabernacle, upon pain of death ; 
2d, that the use of all intoxicating liquors was forbidden to 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 



them, at all times, outside of the tabernacle, in order to their 
being able to put difference, or to distinguish between holy and 
unholy, and unclean and clean ; and to teach the children of 
Israel, all the statutes which the Lord had spoken unto them 
by the hand of Moses. 

A very meagre and unsatisfactory interpretation of this 
passage seems to have been given by eminent expositors. Thus, 
in a " Commentary upon the Holy Bible, from Henry and 
Scott;" published by the Eeligious Tract Society of London — 
notes on this chapter, 8-11,— under the head of " Wine for- 
bidden to the priests when in the service of the tabernacle," it 
is said : "Observe here the prohibition, ' Do not drink wine, 
or strong drink.' At other times the priests were allowed it, 
but during the time of their administration they were forbidden 
it." We cannot assent to this interpretation, but must adhere 
to that given above, for the following reasons. The design of 
the Almighty, in enacting and publishing this law, seems to 
have been five fold : 

1st. To prevent the priests of Aaron (holy persons,) from 
being injured and polluted by alcohol, when entering upon the 
duties of the tabernacle, (the holy place.) 

2d. To prevent the commission of crimes, liable and likely 
to proceed from alcoholic intoxication, such as presenting strange 
fire before the Lord, &c. 

3d. To prevent the admission of any unclean person, or 
thing, into the tabernacle. 

4th. To prevent the priests from teaching otherwise than as 
prescribed in " the statutes spoken unto the children of Israel 
by the hand of Moses." 

5th. To prevent the manifested purity and glory of God 
from being tarnished, by irreverent, or insolent approaches to 
Him, by the priests who were specially consecrated to His 
service, in any or all the ways before mentioned. 

If the two first of these ends could have been accomplished 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 69 

by mere abstinence from intoxicating liquors by the priests, 
ivhen going into the tabernacle of the congregation, we do 
not see bow tbe other three ends could have been accomplished 
by such abstinence alone, if they had previously availed them- 
selves of the license granted to them according to the interpre- 
tation of the Tract Society Commentary, of drinking wine or 
strong drink outside the tabernacle. But we do not see how, 
even the first end could have been accomplished, if the letter 
of the statute only, was observed ; for, although the priests 
did not drink intoxicating liquor, in the act of going into the 
tabernacle, or while in it; still, if they had previously been 
drinking wine or strong drink, so as to be intoxicated when 
going into the tabernacle, or serving in it, the intention of 
the Divine Lawgiver, as expressed in the two first paragraphs, 
would have been defeated. 

But admitting, for the moment, that the first two ends 
proposed could have been accomplished, we do not see how 
abstinence merely, when going into the tabernacle, could 
have sufficed to secure the accomplishment of the other ends 
proposed ; and 

1st. We do not see how such abstinence could have sufficed 
to prevent the introduction of unclean persons, or things, into 
the tabernacle. Let us take the leprosy, for an example. The 
priests, if they had drunk of alcoholic liquors outside the 
tabernacle, (according to the license granted to them in the 
view of this Commentary,) might thus have been rendered 
incapable of accurately discriminating between cases of real 
leprosy, and cases bearing only the semblance of it, and have 
mistaken the former for the latter, (Lev. xiii, 14,) and thus 
allowed leprous persons to enter into the tabernacle and defile 
it. All this time, too, they might have been unsuspicious of 
being intoxicated, or in any way rendered unfit for the correct 
performance of this sacred duty — as we often find persons 
accustomed to the moderate use of intoxicating liquors, perfectly 



70 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

self-confident that all is right with them, when, in reality, they 
are incapable of discharging the duties of their calling, because 
their judgments have become impaired, and other faculties of 
their minds perverted, by that most delusive and dangerous of 
poisons — alcohol. 

2d. We do not see how such abstinence, in the act of going 
into the tabernacle, or within it, could have prevented the priests 
from- teaching otherwise than prescribed in "the statutes which 
the Lord had spoken unto the children of Israel by the hand 
of Moses," for similar reasons to those adduced above; that is 
to say, they might have had the balance of their minds dis- 
turbed, their imaginations excited, at the expense of their 
judgments, and their whole mental economy so disordered by 
the previous moderate use of alcoholic liquors, as to have been 
rendered totally unfit, rightly to divide the word of truth, and 
to expound the Scriptures in a manner profitable to their 
hearers. And it ought to be borne in mind, that the priests 
were, at all times, liable to be called upon to give instruction 
in the law : (Malachi ii, 5-9.) " They were not mere sacrificers 
as their posterity had become ; but they were sensible that the 
priests ought ever to be ready to speak upon any part of sacred 
knowledge, and, as the messengers of God, to instruct the 
people from his Word." (Scott.) "It is required of the priests 
of God's sanctuary, that they should be men of knowledge and 
heavenly wisdom, so as their hearts should keep, and their lips 
should express to the people, the right understanding of Divine 
things." (Bishop Hall.) 

3d. The fifth great reason for the enactment and promulga- 
tion of this prohibitory liquor law, may be said to comprehend 
all the rest, for the grand intent of the Divine Lawgiver as set 
forth in the 3d verse of the 10th chapter of Leviticus, was to 
prevent the tarnishing of His purity and glory, by any act or 
thing, contrar}^, in spirit or letter, to the mode of worship 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE^ 71 

which He had established for His chosen people, according to 
the Mosaic ritual. 

So far as the law was violated in any of the previous particu- 
lars, so far was the plan of salvation of sinful men, by the 
righteousness of the Saviour to come, foreshadowed in the 
priestly and sacrificial types and symbols of His atonement 
and intercession, soiled and made light of, by his professed 
worshipers. 

According to these views, if correct, it must be evident that 
the interpretation given in the Commentary of the Religious 
Tract Society, upon this passage, must be unsound, and, there- 
fore, ought to be rejected; for how could the infinitely wise 
God have enjoined the use of means for the attainment of ends, 
which could not be attained by the use of these means ? and, 
we trust it has been made plain in the preceding remarks, that 
by the employment of these means, the ends proposed could 
never have been accomplished. 

Some have been of opinion that the expression, "When 
ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation," should be taken 
in a periphrastic sense, to signify the assumption of the priestly 
office, by entering upon the duties thereof. We would merely 
remark, that this does not appear to us to be the natural sense 
of the passage. 

We might now return to the first part of the interpretation 
which we have adopted, viz : that the use of all intoxicating 
drinks was forbidden to the priests when going into, or officiating 
in, the tabernacle, or temple, upon pain of death. But, as 
this view is not objected to, we proceed to the consideration of 
the second part, viz : that the use of all intoxicating drinks 
was forbidden to them, at all times, outside of the tabernacle, 
in order to their being able "to put difference between holy 
and unholy, and between unclean and clean ; and to teach the 
children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord had spoken 
unto them by the hand of Moses." 



72 * BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

According to this view, the passage will read thus : "And the 
Lord spake unto Aaron, saying, Do not drink wine nor strong 
drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee : that ye may put difference 
between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean ; and 
that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which 
the Lord hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses." Here 
it will be observed, that the whole of the clause, "when ye go 
into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die : it shall be 
a statute for ever throughout your generations," is unnecessary, # 
according to the particular view of the subject we are now 
taking ; and may, therefore, be considered as parenthetical, in 
relation to what follows. But if expressed, there will be a 
necessity for repeating a second time, the 8th, and part of the 
9th verse, so that after giving the passage just as it stands in 
the 10th chapter of Leviticus, 8th to 11th verse, it would have 
to be read a second time, thus beginning with the 8th verse ; 
omitting " when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, 
lest ye die : it shall be a statute for ever throughout your 
generations," and then 'supplying the words after "and," in 
the 10th verse, from the 8th and 9th verse, in this manner : 
"And the Lord spake unto Aaron, saying, Do not drink 
wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee : that ye 
may put difference between holy and unholy, and between 
unclean and clean ; and that ye may teach the children of 
Israel all the statutes which the Lord hath spoken unto 
them by the hand of Moses. "t According to this method of 

* Referring, above, to the Ceremonial and Judicial aspects of the law, we 
say the whole of the clause Ci When ye go into the tabernacle of the congrega- 
tion, lest ye die :" down to "generations," "is unnecessary," because the Jew- 
ish types and ceremonies have given place to the great antitype, and every true 
worshipper is a temple of the Holy Ghost, and a king and priest unto God ; 
but, while these appear to us, valid reasons for not regarding the law in its 
judicial and ceremonial phases, they cannot affect it in its moral bearing upon 
the church, which must be ever the same. 

] It will be well for the reader to have his Bible in hand, turn to the passage, 
and adhere to the directions given above, in examining it. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 73 

construction, the only true interpretation of this passage (as 
%ve believe,) is naturally, rationally, and spiritually "brought out ; 
tiiat interpretation which reduces it into harmony with other 
portions of Holy Writ, the purity, spirituality, and extent of 
God's law, the claims of Christ's sermon on the mount, the 
perfections of all Jehovah's attributes, the laws of alcohol, 
and the analogies by which it is excluded, as a poison, from both 
the animate kingdoms of nature. 

What a paradox would it have been, if God (according to the 
rejected interpretation which has occupied so much of our 
attention,) had sanctioned the use of alcohol by his priests, 
under any circumstances, in their normal state of health, when, 
by a law of their organization, the irrational and morally irre- 
sponsible tribes of nature, shrink from it with abhorrence ! 
But other modes of testing the truth of our interpretation, may 
be resorted to, under the heads of synthetic and analytic 
experiments. 

1st. Synthetic Experiments. — We have the synthetic experi- 
ments presented to us, in the conduct of the priests, as graphi- 
cally described by the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel, in the 
following words : " But they also have erred through wine, and 
through strong drink are out of the way ; the priest and the 
prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed 
up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink : 
they err in vision, they stumble in judgment :" (Isaish xxviii, 
7 :) Compare Isaiah lvi, 9-12. 

"Her priests have violated my law,* and have profaned 

* Might not Hophni and Phinehas, sons of Belial, be included in the same cate- 
gory? Is it not highly probable from their father, Eli, accusing Hannah of being 
intoxicated, that he was apt to be peculiarly suspicious of others, from familiarity 
with drunken outbreaks in his wretched sons and their infamous paramours, at 
the door of the tabernacle? How is it possible to account for such abandoned, 
shameless profligacy, as is described I Samuel ii, 12, IT, 22, upon any other 
supposition than that of intoxication by alcohol, or some kindred poison? 

7 



74 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE 

mine holy things : they have put no difference between the holy 
and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the 
unclean and the clean, and haye hid their eyes from my sabbaths, 
and I am profaned among them :" (Ezekiel xxii, 26.) 

These experiments plainly speak this language, in confirma- 
tion of the interpretation we have given, of the great doctrine 
proclaimed by Jehovah, (Lev. x,) that alcohol, which, to use 
modern phraseology, is the essence of wine and strong drink, 
when received into their living, human bodies, caused the 
priests to err in vision, so that they could not put difference 
between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean, and to 
"stumble in judgment ," so that they could not "teach the 
children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord had spoken 
unto them by the hand of Moses." 

In chemico-physiological language, it might be said that 
these priests, by introducing alcohol, contrary to God's law, 
into their stomachs, placed it in conditions to come within the 
sphere of the elective attraction of their brains, (referring to 
Dr. Percy's opinion, that the cerebral substance seems to have 
a peculiar affinity for alcohol,) so that by combining with that 
part of the organ of intelligence which is related to vision, that 
function had become impaired ; and with the part which is 
related to judgment, that function had become perverted, and 
they were thereby rendered incapable of performing the duties 
of the sacerdotal office, to which they had been solemnly set 
apart by their Sovereign, and their God. 

2d. Analytic Experiments. — We have the analytic experi- 
ments set before us, in the character and conduct of those two 
tried servants of God, Samuel, and John the Baptist, both 
priests, in the highest and holiest sense of the term, "the cir- 
cumcision, which worship God, in the spirit;" both abstainers 
from wine and strong drink, although only one of them, the 
immediate forerunner of our Lord, was a priest by hereditary 
descent. Men, they were, of dauntless courage, elevated piety, 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 15 

uncompromising integrity, richly gifted with heavenly wisdom, 
" stedfast and immovable, always abounding in the work of the 
Lord." In their blameless lives, and in the faithful and self- 
denying performance of all their sacred duties, we possess the 
analytic proof of the truth of the interpretation, that total 
abstinence from alcoholic liquor qualified them for the discharge 
of their duties outside the tabernacle of the congregation. In 
chemico-physiological language, it might be said of these illus- 
trious men, that by keeping alcohol out of their stomachs, they 
prevented it from contaminating their blood, and thus from 
coming within the sphere of attraction of the seat of their 
heaven-born intellectual and moral faculties — the brain. By a 
bold figure of speech, they, as the blessed guides and instructers 
of the people, might be said to have decomposed and neutralized 
what may appropriately be named alcoholic crime, (nine-tenths 
of the whole, in modern Christendom,) by separating between its 
elements — alcohol, on the one part, and the cerebral substance, 
on the other, and keeping them forever at a distance, according 
to the will of Grod; while their antipodes, the wicked priests — 
the sons of Belial — might be said to have called that astound- 
ing and overwhelming class of crime into existence, by bringing 
kindred elements into combination in the living laboratories of 
their bodies, when they first drank of the intoxicating cup ; 
and to have given it a mighty impulse for the destruction of 
mankind, by their habitual use of it, in opposition to God's 
holy law. 

We think we are now justified in arriving at the conclusion, 
from the results of the synthetic and analytic experiments, 
recorded in Scripture, to which we have directed attention; 
the absurdities and contradictions involved in the other doctrine, 
which we have endeavored 4o expose, and the harmony of the 
views we have enunciated with the fundamental doctrines of 
natural and revealed religion, and deductions of science — that 
the interpretation adopted by us, is that which is according to 



7(3 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

the mind of the Spirit, and, therefore, the only true interpreta- 
tion. That interpretation is this, that the use of all intoxi- 
cating drinks was forbidden to the priests, at all times, outside 
the tabernacle, in order to their being able to put difference, or 
to distinguish between holy and unholy, and between unclean 
and clean ; and to teach the children of Israel all the statutes 
which the Lord had spoken unto them by the hand of Moses 
If we have erred, in any particular, in this discussion, we shall 
be glad to have our errors pointed out, as, we trust, our sincere 
desire is, the establishment of the truth, and that only. 

The consideration of the duty of the christian priesthood, in 
regard to wine, and strong drink, must be deferred till a future 
opportunity, should God be pleased to grant it. 
I remain, my dear friend, 

Yours affectionately, 

JOHN MAIE. 



LETTER XI. 

My Dear Sir, 

We maintain that the grounds, upon which the 
Divine law, against the use of wine and strong drink by the 
Aaronic priesthood, was established under the Jewish economy, 
were moral principles of permanent obligation, and, therefore, 
applicable to those who hold a similar relation to the Divine 
Lawgiver, under the Christian economy. It will be for those, 
who hold contrary sentiments, to show that they are right, and 
that we are in error, in this matter. If God saw it fit and neces- 
sary to enact a law prohibiting the use of alcoholic liquors, by the 
priests of Aaron's line, the only foundation upon which we can 
imagine the possibility of His permitting such a law to become 
obsolete, in regard to the christian priesthood, consistently with 
the inviolable nature of all His attributes, would be the estab- 
lishment of one or more of the following propositions, as unde- 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 77 

niable truths, viz : that the nature of man has so changed, since 
the commencement of the Gospel Dispensation, that his system 
is no longer susceptible of injury from alcoholic poison ; that 
alcohol has lost its deleterious qualities, as regards man, and is 
no longer a deadly poison to him ; or, that Jesus has less love 
to those whom he hath made priests and kings unto God and 
His Father — all true christians — than he had to the Jewish 
priesthood, or than He even now cherishes to irrational animals ; 
so that he could allow those, for whom He died upon the cross, 
to be exposed to dangers from which he has carefully shielded 
the latter, by a law of their organization ! 

To all of these absurd, and even blasphemous conjectures, an 
unconditional negative must be given. They are utterly at 
variance with all His attributes and laws, upon the inviolability 
and stability of which, not only all our plans and purposes 
depend, but the supremacy and universality of the Divine 
government rests, as its sole foundation. The nature of man 
is now essentially the same as it ever has been, since the fall of 
Adam. It was a fact in the time of Moses and Aaron, it is a 
fact still, and ever will be, while the present constitution of 
things lasts, that vinously fermented grape-juice, &c, contains 
more or less of the poison alcohol, (which our immortal bard, 
Shakspeare, so inimitably describes, as follows : " thou invisi- 
ble spirit of wine, if thou hast no name to be known by, let us 
call thee Devil ! that men should put an enemy to their 
mouths to steal away their brains !") that fearful brain-poison? 
which, when taken into the body in sufficient quantity, trans- 
forms man, as man — however dignified and sacred his office 
maybe — into a beast ; and the natural tendency of which, is to 
gender an incontrollable appetite, or craving ; terminating, often, 
in a slavish habit, from which no one, who has begun to tamper 
with it, can claim exemption, or discharge. 

But, not only can no sufficient reason be assigned why the 
law against alcoholic liquors, given to the Aaronic priesthood, 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 



should not extend to Christ's royal priesthood ; we proceed a 
step further, and fearlessly affirm that there are paramount 
ieasons why it should comprehend them in its embrace, and 
why it should be more strictly observed by them. Let us take 
a glance at a few passages of Holy Writ, confirmatory of this 
proposition : 

"And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the 
heavenly host praising God, and saying, glory to God in the 
highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men :" (Luke ii, 
13, 14.) 

"Verily I say unto you, among them that are born of women 
there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist : not- 
withstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater 
than he:" (Matt, xi, 11.) 

" Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament ; 
not of the letter, but of the spirit : for the letter killeth, but 
the spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death, written 
and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of 
Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the 
glory of his countenance ; which glory was to be done away : 
how shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious ? 
For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more 
doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For 
even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, 
by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which is 
done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is 
glorious :" (II Cor. iii, 6-11.) 

" But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the 
living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable 
company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the 
first-born, which are written in Heaven, and to God the Judge 
of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus 
the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, 
that speaketh better things than that of Abel. See that ye 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 79 

refuse not Him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who 
refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we 
escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from Heaven :" 
(Hebrews xii, 22-25.) 

"And that servant, which knew his lord's will and prepared 
not himself, neither did according to his will, shall "be beaten 
with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things 
worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto 
whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required : and 
to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the 
more :" (Luke xii, 47, 48.) 

" Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an 
holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to 
God by Jesus Christ :" (I Peter ii, 5.) 

" But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy 
nation, a peculiar people ; that ye should shew forth the praises 
of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvel- 
lous light:" (I Peter ii, 9.) 

Who so blind as not to perceive what the design and import 
of these and similar portions of Scripture is ? and they could 
easily be multiplied. 

Do they not vividly demonstrate that the day has dawned, 
and the shadows have fled away; that "the darkness is past, 
and the true light now shineth;" that the sun of righteous- 
ness is in the meridian; that he has arisen upon us "with 
healing in his wings ;" that we have not only far greater insight 
into " the mystery of Godliness," than our Jewish predecessors 
had — "beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord," " God 
having shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of 
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ," the promise, that 
He would "send the Comforter," having been fulfilled; and 
that, therefore, we shall be far more guilty than the priests of 
Aaron were, if we, forgetting the apostolic encomium, "Ye are 
all the children of light, and the children of the day," ignore and 



80 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

despise the obligation laid upon us, as " kings and priests unto 
God " — to abstain from wine, wherein is excess, (asotia, insalva- 
bility,) and to u walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and 
drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness ?" 

But to have done with general reasoning, let us now proceed 
to show that there is direct Scriptural testimony to the fact, 
that the use of alcoholic liquors is forbidden, to the spiritual 
priesthood, under the new testament dispensation. 

We now request attention to Ezekiel xliv, 21-24, omitting 
the 22d verse. It is thus written : " Neither shall any priest 
drink wine, when they enter the inner court. And they shall 
teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, 
and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean. 
And in controversy they shall sit in judgment ; and they shall 
judge it according to my judgments : and they shall keep my 
laws and my statutes in all my assemblies ; and they shall 
hallow my sabbaths," 

The verses just quoted form part of Ezekiel's prediction 
concerning the temple, continued from the 40th chapter to the 
end of the book. It has generally been considered one of the 
most obscure and ambiguous portions of Scripture. We are of 
opinion that the temple, with its priests and sacrifices, as seen 
by Ezekiel, in vision, are emblematic representations of pure, 
undefiled Christianity, as never altogether extinct, but especially 
as it will be displayed in greatest perfection, in the latter days 
— during the millennium ; — and, in support of this view, we offer 
the following arguments : 

1st. In the words of Lowth, " Nothing is more common 
than for the prophets to describe the state of the Christian 
church by representations from the Jewish temple and service." 

2d, The plainness and simplicity of Christian ordinances, 
contrasted with the complexity and gorgeousness of the Jewish 
rites and ceremonies. In the former, gold and silver are 
altogether wanting, or, at least, are not enjoined in the Word of 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 81 

God — and neither of them is mentioned in the construction 
of Ezekiel's temple — while of the tabernacle, and temple at 
Jerusalem, they constituted essential parts ; and the priestly 
garments were richly ornamented, not only with gold, but also 
with precious stones, according to Divine appointment. Compare 
Exodus xxv to xxviii, I Kings vi, with Ezekiel xli, xliv, 16. 

3d. The spiritual worship of genuine Christianity is indicated 
by the statute, " Thus saith the Lord God ; No stranger, uncir- 
cumcisecl in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into 
my sanctuary, of any stranger that is among the children of 
Israel:" (Ezekiel xliv, 9.) Scott, in his notes, in his Com- 
mentary, upon this subject, remarks : " There was no law to 
exclude unregenerate persons, who were circumcised and ritually 
clean, from the ordinances of the temple, so that this must 
denote a different constitution." 

4th. " The temple and its out-buildings are here stated to 
be built on a square, at least, of very nearly an English mile 
on each side, or four miles in circuit. This is far greater than 
either Solomon's temple, or that after the captivity, ever was ; 
or, indeed, than the mountain of the temple was capable of 
containing, according to the description of' the Jewish writers. 
This shows that the vision cannot be explained of any temple 
that has hitherto been built; or, indeed, of any literal temple 
— but figuratively and mystically. " # 

5th. "By this measure, the city would be near forty miles 
in circuit, or ten miles on each side of the square, which was 
vastly larger than Jerusalem ever was. Doubtless, the large 
dimensions, of the city and land, were intended to intimate the 
great increase of religion, and the propagation of the gospel in 

the times predicted The land here divided, is 

never called Canaan, nor the city measured, Jerusalem ; proba- 
bly because they were figurative of spiritual blessings to the 

* Scott's Commentary: Notes on Ezekiel xlii, 15-20. 



82 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

church, and to Israel, but 'the Lord is there;' or, ' Jehovah- 
Shammah,' (marg.) is the name given to this holy city."— Sco^. 
(Ezekiel xlviii, 30-35.) Other reasons might be assigned for 
our belief, that by the temple described by Ezekiel, Christianity, 
in its advanced stages, is to be understood ; such as repeated 
reference to " tables," signifying, probably, the "table of the 
Lord," from which the Lord's supper, in after- times, was to be 
administered. 

After this long digression, we proceed to notice Ezekiel xliv, 
21, 23, 24. We believe that it contains, 

1st. A republication of the law against alcoholic wine, origi- 
nally recorded, Leviticus x, 8-11, with additional sanctions 
addressed to those who, under the Christian dispensation, are 
denominated u a holy and royal priesthood," (I Peter ii, 5-9,) 
and, as proving the perpetual obligation thereof upon them. 

2d. A prediction of the benefits to be derived from universal 
obedience to this law, during the millennium. 

1st. A republication of the law against alcoholic wine, 
originally recorded, [Leviticus x, 8-11,) with additional sanc- 
tions addressed to those who, under the Christian dispensation, 
are denominated " a holy and royal priesthood" [I Peter ii, 
5-9,) and, as proving the perpetual obligation thereof upon 
them. 

If we could, for a moment, be elevated (as the apostles were, 
in the mount of transfiguration,) into a region of supernal 
blessedness and glory — breathing the pure atmosphere of 
heaven — drinking of the clear "water," and eating of the 
soul-satisfying fruit of the "Tree of Life" — gazing upon the 
Lamb of God, in all His majesty, sublimity and beauty — 
absorbed in Divine contemplations of ineffable sweetness and 
loveliness— forgetful of everything "that defileth, or worketh 
abomination, or maketh a lie," — it would be impossible for us 
to conceive how any brother, in the church militant upon earth, 
could contend, earnestly, for the use of alcoholic liquors in the 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 83 

house of God, or in any place, however remotely connected 
with His worship or service ! There is, in our belief, the 
greatest antagonism between being spiritually and spirituously- 
minded. " To be carnally-minded, is death; but to be spiritu- 
ally-minded, is life and peace." 

It would almost seem as if members, not a few, of Christian 
churches, in modern times, had mistaken spiritually for spiritu- 
ously, in the reacting of this passage, and, by this slight change 
in the termination of the word spirit, made a startling altera- 
tion in the meaning of the expression, and the character of the 
Gospel. For, to be spirituously-minded is one of the worst 
and most common forms of carnal-mindedness, and is signally 
destructive of the "life and peace" which are exclusively the 
purchase of the Redeemer's blood, and the gifts of the Holy 
Ghost ! 

Let us now examine this law and its objects, clause by clause, 
with profound attention, earnestly praying for the Holy Spirit, 
that He would lead us into all truth respecting it. 

"Neither shall any priest drink wine, when they enter into 
the inner court." By any priest, here, we are to understand, 
any Christian ; by " enter into the inner court," the supernatu- 
ral change wrought in the sinner, by the Holy Spirit, when he 
is born again, and made a new creature by faith in Christ 
Jesus. By the whole we are to understand, that no " king 
and priest unto God," from the moment of his conversion, or 
entrance into "the kingdom of God, by faith, is to drink of any 
intoxicating alcoholic liquor, in his normal state of health, 
according to the views already presented in former letters. 
Comparing this passage, " Neither shall any priest drink wine," 
with the corresponding one in Leviticus x, 9, where the words, 
addressed to Aaron and his sons, are : "Do not drink wine nor 
strong drink, thou nor thy sons with thee," &c, it is evident 
that reference is made, in the former, to a more extended line 
of priesthood, than the latter : even that line which consists of 



84 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

all the members of Christ's mystical body, " chosen in Him 
before the foundation of the world, that they should be holy 
and without blame before Him, in love :" (Ephesians i, 4.) 

That this is the meaning, will be made plain by consulting 
the 7th and 9th verses of the same chapter, Ezekiel xliv. " In 
that ye have brought strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and 
uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it." 
"Thus saith the Lord God: No stranger uncircumcised in 
heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctu- 
ary" Compare Romans ii, 28, 29: " For he is not a Jew, 
which is one outwardly ; neither is that circumcision, which is 
outward in the flesh : But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly ; 
and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in 
the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God." 

The allusion would seem to be, more especially, to the mil- 
lennial period, (as has been noticed above,) when the fulness of 
the Gentiles shall be come in and so all Israel shall be saved — 
the outward and inward circumcision, referring to the former, 
and the inward, the circumcision made without hands, (Coloss. 
ii, 11-13,) to the latter ; or rather, both having reference to 
purification of heart, and corresponding holiness of walk and 
conversation, " clean hands and a pure heart," in Jew as well as 
Gentile, at the blessed epoch, when "there shall be one fold, 
and one shepherd," (John x, 16,) and "they shall not hurt nor 
destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord :" (Isaiah lxv, 
25.) If any should demur to this interpretation of the pas- 
sage, and say that by entering into the inner court, is only to 
be understood literally, entering into christian places of wor- 
ship, to hear the gospel preached, pray and sing praises to 
God, &c. ; to such we would reply, that if the views we have 
enunciated before, respecting the superior character of the 
spiritual dispensation under which we live, be correct, and also 
our views respecting the correlative passage in Leviticus, con- 
cerning the Aaronic priesthood, we do not see how the correct- 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 85 

ness of these additional views can be justly impugned ; for, if 
under " the law," — " the ministration of death," — the Aaronic 
priests were absolutely required, by Divine authority, to abstain 
from wine and strong drink, (alcoholic liquors,) at all times, to 
fit them for the right performance of their sacred duties, (as, 
we trust, has been proved,) how much more shall the holy 
royal priesthood, "the kings and priests unto God," — under 
"the gospel," "the ministration of the Spirit," which is 
"much more glorious," — be required to abstain from wine and 
strong drink, at all times, to fit them for the right performance 
of their sacred duties ! If we were right in the one instance, 
in our interpretation, we do not see how we can be wrong in 
the other. But to proceed : "And they shall teach my people 
the difference between the holy and the profane, and cause 
them to discern between the unclean and the clean." We 
have passed over the 22d verse, as more remotely connected 
with our present subject. (That it does bear some relation to 
it, however, might, without difficulty, be shown, if we were to 
look into the vast importance of Christian men having Chris- 
tian wives, (II Cor. vi, 14,) so that their children might be 
brought up by Christian mothers, "in the nurture and admoni- 
tion of the Lord," and that they might early be initiated into 
the principles and practice of pure temperance, such as is taught 
by the apostle Paul, in his epistle to Titus, ii, 3, 4, hereafter 
to be considered.) 

Taking the Scriptural view of the subject which we do, we 
cannot avoid interpreting this paragraph as referring to moral 
and religious duties, (not ceremonial,) or, at least, only so far as 
regards christian ordinances, such as the Lord's supper. We 
are to understand by it, then, that all Christians are to teach 
God's people (probably those afterwards to be converted,) 
"according to the election of grace" — to distinguish between 
those principles and acts which are holy, just and good, or 
according to this law ; and those principles and acts which are 



86 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

unholy, unjust and wicked, or contrary to its letter and spirit : 
It is implied here, also, and expressed in Leviticus x, at the first 
promulgation of the law, (in regard to the Jewish priesthood,) 
that Christians are to distinguish between holy and profane, &c, 
themselves, and practise what they preach before they teach 
others : Rom. ii, 21 :) and, in order that they may be qualified 
to obey this law, as thus explained, they are to abstain from 
the use of intoxicating drinks, as noticed in the preceding 
paragraph. A wide range of duty is included in this injunction, 
to which we can merely advert. But let us ponder well, the 
importance which " the Spirit of truth " attaches to this law of 
abstinence from intoxicating liquors, by Christians, both as 
regards personal and relative duties — duties to God, self, and 
mankind. Conscience is God's vicegerent within the soul of 
man. It is its office to distinguish between good and evil. 
One of its greatest enemies, if not the greatest, is alcohol. A 
man, in any degree, under the influence of that poison, although 
he may not be incapable of distinguishing between extreme acts 
of savage cruelty and God-like benevolence, or the feelings 
leading to them, may yet have his conscience so blunted as to 
remain unaffected by those delicate touches of the convincing 
Spirit which require corresponding sensitiveness to discern them, 
and by which, in the region of thought, reformation is to begin. 
It is this insensibility of the eye of conscience, (to change the 
figure,) to the fainter and more ethereal tints of guilt ; an 
insensibility occasioned by the habitual action of, at first, small, 
but gradually increasing portions of alcohol, upon the brain, 
which is so much to be dreaded and deprecated, just because it 
is its nature not to excite alarm, but on the contrary, to creep 
on stealthily — serpent-like, and progressively — till it lands its 
miserable victim in a state of hopeless bondage. 

Other sinners, upon occasions, have their memories exercised, 
and their imaginations employed, in spreading out before them 
their past evil deeds, in dread array, in all their portentous gloom 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 87 

and hideous ugliness. But the slave of strong drink has his 
memory so soaked and saturated with alcohol, that all its 
reminiscences smack thereof, and are jaundiced thereby. # He 
lives in an enchanted region, peopled by the phantoms of a 
crazy, bewildered, besotted imagination, which clothes every- 
thing in its own deceitful livery; "calls evil good, and good 
evil; puts darkness for light, and light for darkness; puts 
bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter !" Alcohol is everything 
everywhere, to the poor, miserable, infatuated wretch. He not 
only drinks alcohol, but he thinks alcohol, breathes alcohol, 
speaks alcohol. He sees alcohol in every shifting scene of 
creation. The dreadest, or the loveliest landscape has no 
sublimity or beauty apart from it. He hears it in the music 
of nature's most melodious songsters, as they chant their morn- 
ing hymn, or evening requiem to God, their Creator. He 
tastes it in the most luscious fruits, he smells it in the most 
grateful odors. It envelopes his whole exterior, so that he can 
touch nothing else. It enters into the most secret recesses of 
his soul, and constitutes the substratum and frame-work, both 
of his mind and body. 

It snaps the sinews of natural affection asunder, stupifies 
the conscience, stultifies the understanding, enervates the will, 
corrodes the heart, drags piety up by the roots, stifles the voice 
of prayer, insinuates itself into the house of God, and intrenches 
itself and nestles there, transforming it into "a den of thieves, 
and a cage of unclean and hateful birds;" and ? not content 
with all this wickedness and sacrilege, it has even the bare- 
facedness, effrontery-, and presumption, to make itself one with 
the precious, spotless, sin-atoning blood of the Son of God ! 
In alcohol, the worse than brutified, — the devil-possessed man, 
— lives and moves and has his being. It is himself, his God, 
his all and in all. 

*For the primary idea here, I am indebted to Sir Win. A'Beckett, Chief 
Justice of Victoria, in one of his speeches. I have somewhat enlarged upon it. 



88 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

"And in controversy they shall stand in judgment, and they 
shall judge it according to my judgments;" i. e., Christian 
ministers and laymen, placed in judicial situations, shall abstain 
from alcoholic liquors, and thus shall so far be qualified to 
inquire in litigated matters brought before them, according to 
God's judgments or laws, and shall decide accordingly ; that 
otherwise, if they should drink wine, or strong drink, they 
would be liable and likely to "stumble in judgment," is evi- 
dently implied : (Isaiah xxviii, 7: lvi, 9-12.) 

"And they shall keep my laws and my statutes, in all my 
assemblies ; and they shall hallow my sabbaths ;" i. e., observ- 
ing the law, against alcoholic liquors, upon all occasions, 
Christians shall be so far in a fit state of mind and body, to 
observe and preserve order and decorum in all God's assemblies, 
(the meetings of His saints,) in accordance with His laws and 
statutes, and shall do so ; and, shall also keep holy his sabbaths. 

The converse of these propositions, is manifestly set forth in 
Ezekiel xxii, 26, compared with Isaiah xxv, 7 : lvi, 9-12, as 
referred to, when speaking of the law, addressed to Aaron and 
his sons, under the Jewish economy. 

How much might be said, in illustration and confirmation of 
the truth implied under the last clause — that the use of alco- 
holic liquors, upon the Lord's day, by so-called Christians, is 
one of the chief causes of its awful profanation, of the terrific 
catalogue of crimes committed upon it, and of the insults 
which God receives during its sacred hours ! But shortness of 
time, and mass of matter upon other topics we have to handle, 
prevents enlargement. Suffice it to refer to the criminal sta- 
tistics of the sabbath, in all the large cities of Christendom, to 
show that the desecration of that day, is chiefly owing to the 
sale and consumption of alcoholic liquors, during its sacred 
hours. 

What the effects will be, of the banishment of wine and 
strong drink from the house of God, as well as from the houses 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 



of Christians, is a problem to be answered in future times, 
which, if we were to judge only from the tenacity with which 
the churches, at present, cleave to the " cup of Devils/' would 
seem to be far distant. 

We are thus led to a very brief notice of the second head 
of this branch of our subject, viz : a 'prediction of the benefits 
to be derived from universal obedience to this law, during the 
millennium. May it not be confidently stated that, as have 
been the evils resulting from the general, nay, all but uni- 
versal use of alcoholic liquors, contrary to the Divine law, so 
will be the benefits which shall result from the all but universal 
disuse of them, and, especially, from their complete dismissal 
from the house of God, and the table of our Lord and Saviour, 
Jesus Christ? If nine-tenths of the crime, three-fourths of 
the poverty, a vast proportion of the diseases, corporeal and 
mental; and of the curses, desecrations, desolations, abomina- 
tions and woes, which have ground and afflicted, and still 
grind and afflict miserable, sin-stricken man, have sprung, 
and do spring, from the violation of God's law, which forbids 
the use of alcoholic, and by implication, of all other intoxi- 
cants, everywhere, and at all times, by man in his normal 
state of health — and, especially, at all sacred ordinances ; is it 
not certain that the general observance of this Divine com- 
mandment, from sincere conviction and Christian principle, will 
be attended with a proportionate abatement of these enormous 
evils ? But not only so ; — Is it not obvious, also, that if Chris- 
tians have enjoyed, in some degree, (0 how wonderful the 
patience and forbearance of God !) the light of Jehovah's 
countenance, although they may be said to have cut off one of 
the wings of the eagle-eyed, true-hearted religion of Jesus, even 
temperance, (by means of which, when restored on the one side, 
with faith on the other, love and hope occupying the centre, she 
is destined to soar with single aim, straight and rapid flight, and 
unruffled pinion, to the highest heaven, and bask forever in 



90 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

the quenchless sunshine of Immanuel's glory !) they will have 
much more of the light of His gracious countenance upon earth, 
when they receive implicitly, and follow steadfastly, " the 
truth as it is in Jesus," respecting wine and strong drink, so 
plainly revealed in Scripture, "that he may run that readeth 
it," — although., hitherto, alas, it has been buried in a heap of 
superstitious garbage, and made of none effect by the tradition 
of the elders ? We may rationally and scripturally expect, that 
much of the blessedness and prosperity of the millennial age 
will be connected with the universal observance of the law 
which we have been considering, and which has, hitherto, been 
treated as a nonentity by the christian world ! 

"If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing 
thy pleasure on my holy day ; and call the sabbath a delight, 
the holy of the Lord, honorable ; and shalt honor Him, not 
doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor 
speaking thine own words : then shalt thou delight thyself in 
the Lord ; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places 
of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob, thy 
father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it:" (Isaiah 
lviii, 13, 14.) 

I have yet to endeavor to re-echo the voice of the apostles, 
upon this subject, if God permit, but not in my present letter, 
which is, already, of unusual size. 

Believe me, 

My dear brother in Jesus, 
Yours affectionately, 

JOHN MAIR. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 91 



LETTER XII. 

My Dear Sir, 

The next question, to be considered, is : — Do 
the writings of the apostles confirm the doctrine of "Moses 
and the prophets," (as we have viewed it,) that it is unlawful 
for Christians — a " holy priesthood" — to drink of alcoholic 
liquors, in their normal state of health ? — If so, then we may 
reckon it established. If not so, then it must follow that our 
rendering of the texts, which we have examined, must be erro- 
neous ; for it is impossible that the inspired writers can be at 
variance, on a moral problem, of such unspeakable importance, 
involving, not only the happiness of man, but the glory of 
Jehovah. Let us proceed, deliberately and prayerfully, to 
investigate this subject, in the following order : 

I. The texts, in the Apostolic writings, which enjoin absti- 
nence from wine, &c, upon Office-bearers of the church. 

II. The texts, in the Apostolic writings, which enjoin absti- 
nence from wine, &c, upon Christians generally. 

1st. The texts, in the Apostolic writings, which enjoin absti- 
nence from wine, &c, upon Office-bearers of the church. 

There is an apostolic precept, (I Timothy iii, 2,) forbidding 
the use of wine to bishops, (presbyters, or pastors,) not only 
when engaged in the sacred ordinances of God's house, but at 
all times, if we are correct in our interpretation of it, in the 
original. It stands thus, in the authorized version : "A bishop 
must be vigilant:" "Dei oun ton episcopon einai, .... 
nephaleon ;" the last word being thus translated, in a " Greek 
and English Lexicon of the New Testament, by Edward Robin- 
son, D. D., &c, a new edition carefully revised, by S. T. Bloom- 
field, D. D.:" " Nephalios, ia, on, (nepho,) sober, temperate, 
abstinent, especially in respect to wine." The word, in the 
authorized version, quoted above, is translated " vigilant;" for 



92 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

what reason, we do not know, — neither can we see any good 
reason, why it should not be translated "abstinent," in respect 
to wine, according to the authority above cited. By "wine," 
if this translation be adopted, we are to understand, of course, 
intoxicating wine, carrying out and enforcing the precept 
originally addressed to Aaron and his sons, by God Himself, 
after the appalling catastrophe of Nadab and Abihu, when they 
were destroyed by fire, from His presence : (Leviticus x, 1, 2.) 
By " paroinon" in the 3d verse of the same chapter, we 
understand, " not given to (unfer merited) wine." We find the 
word " nephaleous" again in the 11th verse, translated, in the 
authorized version, "sober," — applied to the wives of deacons. 
We do not see, why it may not be translated "abstinent from 
wine," here, as well as in the former instance of course, mean- 
ing intoxicating, or alcoholitfc wine. (It is repeated, Titus ii, 2, 
with reference to aged men, who, in like manner, are required 
to be abstinent from alcoholic wine.) Thus, we find that 
bishops, and the wives of deacons, according to this view, are 
forbidden the use of alcoholic wine. But, some will probably 
ask : what of the deacons themselves ? Are they permitted the 
use of intoxicating wine ? Assuredly not. They are required, 
in the 8th verse, to be "not given to much wine;" by 
which we are to understand, that they are not to be given to 
much ^^intoxicating wine, — for see, what fearful errors we 
should be led into, if we were to conceive, that they were 
allowed, by Him, " in whose sight the heavens are not clean," 
" and who chargeth His angels with folly," to drink of intoxi- 
eating wine, " the wine, wherein is excess," — to excess — (asotia, 
insalvability,) as would be implied by much, if referred to such 
wine. This supposition, if valid, would be fatal to all the well- 
ascertained facts and principles, which we have endeavored to 
enunciate in former letters. It would inflict a death wound 
upon the cause of temperance throughout the world, and clothe 
weeping humanity in her most sable attire. It would produce, 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 98 

if possible, lamentation in heaven, and exultation in hell. It 
would confound the everlasting distinctions between right and 
wrong;, truth and error. It - would shake the throne of the 
Eternal ! 

But these are impossibilities, the very thought of which, 
were it to lay hold of the mind, would extinguish the light of 
reason, and extort, from the hardest heart, a wail of insuffera- 
ble anguish ! We should, at once, cast it from us with right- 
eous indignation, and abhorrence, as altogether impious and 
atheistical, were it not that, with all its baseness, it numbers 
amongst its friends and advocates, men of high note, in the 
Christian world, whose arguments we must endeavor to dispose 
of, and whose prejudices we must endeavor to overcome. 

1st. What is to be understood by the phrase, " not given to 
wine," as applied to bishops, supposing it to refer to intoxicating 
wine, or, as we are authorized to call it, "poisonous wine?" 
It would seem to have this meaning : that bishops are not to be 
in the habit of drinking intoxicating, or poisonous wine, in 
such quantities as to injure them in soul, or body, or both. 
How much this would be, in any, or every instance, is not 
stated ; neither is it stated, what number of times would be 
necessary to constitute a habit of drinking. All this is left to 
be decided by each individual bishop, according to his knowl- 
edge and inclination. But the question at once occurs here, 
how can the habit referred to, and prohibited, be injurious to 
the soul or body of any bishop, if each single act be not inju- 
rious ; for it is intoxicating, or poisonous drink, which is used, 
and what does poisonous mean, if not injurious to soul, or 
body, or both soul and body ? And, if each single act must be 
more or" less injurious, (the nature of the thing, and of the 
man continuing the same,) how can the habit be forbidden with- 
out each specific act, constituting a part of it, being forbidden, 
also ? Let our opponents give a satisfactory answer to these 
questions, if they can. We do not see how they can be satis- 



94 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

factorily answered, according to their hypothesis, that alcoholic 
wine was intended, by the apostle Paul, in the passage quoted. 
If they had taken the pains to think, for a moment, what was 
the nature of the wine, for which they were so great sticklers, 
common sense would have told them, that its qualities did not, 
all of a sudden change their nature, by some magical power, 
so that what was not, in the least, injurious when first used, 
could, in an instant, become hurtful to man, (his nature remain- 
ing unchanged, also,) they would have abandoned their notions 
as untenable. But let us take another view of the matter : — 
It has been well said by the writer's grandfather, Professor 
John Stewart, author of a Commentary on Sir Isaac Newton's 
''Quadrature of Curves," and the bosom friend of Dr. Reid, 
the eminent Metaphysician, in an unpublished MS., that " every 
grand or capital precept of the moral law, necessarily supposes 
and includes under it, the prohibition of everything that has a 
tendency to the breach of it ; and the requisition of all those 
things that have an evident and natural tendency, and fitness, 
to bring about the accomplishment and performance of it. 
Since all such things must be considered either as parts or 
branches of that capital precept, or as means and helps to the 
performance and obedience of it. This is as certainly true, as 
that the whole includes all the parts ; and that he who would 
desire and accomplish any end, must desire and use the means 
for attaining that end." 

Now, bearing this great truth in mind, even if the former 
remonstrance should be slighted, can it be believed, by. our 
adversaries, that the Apostle, inspired by the Holy Spirit of 
truth, could have had intoxicating wine in his mind's eye, when 
he said: "A bishop must not be given to wine;" meaning, 
must not be in the habit of drinking such wine, but may take 
of it occasionally, when he could not have been ignorant (and 
they must admit,) that the use of it, in the smallest quantity, 
must, at least, have a tendency to intoxicate — poison — or injure 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 95 

the mental, or bodily faculties, or both, of him who uses it, in 
violation of the law of Grod, contained in the 6th commandment, 
as explained by our Saviour, in his Sermon on the mount, the 
immutable foundation of all true morality. 

If the preceding reasoning, with the data upon which it is 
founded, be incapable of being refuted, it will apply, a fortiori, 
to the case of the deacons, next to be considered. 

2d. What is to be understood by the phrase, " Not given to 
much wine," as applied to deacons, supposing it to refer to 
intoxicating wine ? It would seem to have this meaning : That 
deacons are not to be in the habit of drinking much intoxicating 
wine, so as to be very injurious to them. It is evident, that 
the turn of the expression demands an interpretation consistent 
with license to deacons to drink a larger quantity of intoxi- 
cating, or poisonous wine, than bishops ; for the phraseology in 
the one case, is: "Not given to wine," — in the other: "Not 
given to much wine." But, the question at once arises here: 
How is it possible that God, who is "no respecter of persons," 
could, consistently with His infinite justice and holiness, have 
granted permission to one class of persons, to drink a smaller, 
and to another, equally dear to Him, a larger quantity of 
poisonous wine ? We leave this, with the many other equally 
posing questions which could easily be proposed, to the solution 
of our adversaries ; satisfying ourselves now, with saying that, 
by this interpretation of the passage, under consideration, 
deacons would seem to be at liberty to drink much intoxicating 
wine, at longer or shorter intervals, no matter if each separate 
drinking bout should be very injurious, provided it could not be 
said of them, they themselves, being judges, that they were 
habitual drinkers of intoxicating wine. We may be pardoned 
for noticing here, once again, in his own words, the principle 
so luminously and forcibly expounded by Professor Youmans ; 
that nothing short of prohibition will prevent the evils of 
alcoholic intemperance, — a principle equally applicable to the 



96 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

Supreme Government of Heaven, as to the subordinate govern- 
ments of earth ; and which, could not be binding upon the 
latter, if it had not emanated from, and been acted upon by, 
the former : 

"It is in vain to urge, that Government lends its sanction 
only to the moderate employment of alcoholic beverages, and 
reprobates their excessive use. This is impossible. Govern- 
ment cannot fix the magic line, up to which, indulgence is safe 
and commendable, and beyond which, it is dangerous, and to be 
prohibited. Government must either consent to the habit, 
through all its imperceptible degrees of growth, or it must 
interdict it entirely. In this case, the beginning is every- 
thing. Put out your shoot in the soil, and the forces of nature 
will take care that it becomes a tree. Start your drinking 
habit, and the laws of nature will see to it, that it shall grow, 
and bear fruit after its kind. It is preposterous to attempt a 
defence of Government, by saying that, it only justifies a com- 
mencement of drinking practices. As well might the culprit, 
on trial for arson, plead innocence, on the ground that he did 
not burn the dwelling, but only fired a train of combustibles 
that led to it." 

Under the present head, and, as illustrative of these views, 
it may be mentioned, that Timothy, himself a distinguished 
bishop, seems to have been, what might be called, an ultra- 
abstainer from wine, and that St. Paul seems to have deemed 
it right, to impress on him the necessity of using " a little wine 
for his stomach's sake, and his often infirmities:" (I Timothy 
v, 23:) or medicinally. It is, indeed, difficult to say, whether 
he may not have carried his principles of abstinence so far, as 
to deny himself the innocent gratification of drinking mode- 
rately of unfermented wine ; or rather, it appears highly proba- 
ble that he did so, or that he abstained from " the fruit of the 
vine " (Nazarite like,) altogether, except at the Lord's table. 
If this be a correct view, it will easily account for the seeming 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 97 

anomaly of the Apostle granting permission to the bishops to 
drink wine in small quantities ; meaning, of course, unintoxi- 
cating wine, or "fruit of the vine," as implied in the expres- 
sion, " me paroiuon:" " not given to wine:" (I Timothy iii, 
3 ;) and to deacons — subordinate officers — to drink the same, 
with less restraint, as implied in the phrase, " me polio oi?io 
prosechontas :" " not given to much wine :" (I Timothy iii, 8.) 
What more natural than that the profoundly learned Apostle, 
when laying down rules for the guidance of bishops in the 
Christian church, should have his mind turned to the priests, 
who held a corresponding rank in the Jewish church, and the 
law imposed upon them, concerning wine and strong drink ; a 
law, which in words, at least, did not extend to their assistants, 
the Levites ? What more natural, again, than that he should 
carry out the injunction, laid upon the priests of the Jewish 
Church, to the fullest extent, in regard to the bishops of the 
Christian church, not in letter only, but in spirit also ; and, 
that he should, therefore, absolutely interdict their use of 
intoxicating wine, upon all occasions ? 

And, finally, what more natural, than that the disinterested, 
noble-hearted, far-seeing Apostle of the Gentiles, after dealing 
with the pastors, should go on to their assistants, the deacons, 
and (remembering no special law under the Jewish dispensation, 
debarring the class corresponding to them, the Levites, from 
the use of intoxicating wine,) should speak to them, with 
reference to the unfermented " fruit of the vine," only, and 
grant them permission to use it, or wrcalcoholic, ?^7zintoxicating 
wine, — the only lawful wine of Scripture, — with somewhat 
greater liberty, than was conceded to the bishops, but still, 
under the limitation of strict temperance, as implied in the 
expression, " not given to much wine," — a similar license being 
granted to aged women in his epistle to Titus: (Titus ii, 3.) 
It is hardly necessary to add, that this license is, in the nature 
of the case, perfectly inconsistent with the supposition, that 
9 



98 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

they could have been granted liberty to drink of intoxicating 
wine, in the smallest quantity, by the Apostle. Reference to 
the epistle of Paul to Titus, another eminent minister of the 
Gospel, intrusted with the superintendence of the church at 
Crete, (Titus i, 7,) will tend to confirm the views expressed 
above; for there we find the very same word, " paroinonv'' 
" not given to wine," made use of, in relation to bishops, which 
was used in the 1st epistle to Timothy ; (I Timothy iii, 3 ;) 
and we see no reason why it should not be taken in the same 
sense, viz : " Not given to (wrcfermented) wine." 

It is true, that we do not find the word " nephahon," here ; 
but, we find " osion" and " egkrate :" the one "holy," and the 
other "temperate;" (v. 8,) — which words, would well convey 
the same meaning of abstinence from intoxicating wine. We 
conclude, then, from the premises, that alcoholic wine is for- 
bidden to bishops and deacons of the Christian Church. 

I am, my dear brother, 

Yours affectionately, 

JOHN MAIR. 



letter xiii. 
My Dear Sir, 

Having endeavored to show, that the apostles, in 

their writings, extend to the office-bearers, of the Christian 

Church, the anti-alcoholic doctrines primarily applied to the 

Aaronic priesthood, in the Old Testament ; we now, believing 

in the " analogy of faith," proceed to examine particular texts, 

which go to prove that the same doctrines are extended, by 

them, to Christians generally. The subject of this letter has 

been partly anticipated. Some attention has, already, been 

given to several texts, in former letters, (Numbers 8 and 9,) 

under the head of " The teachings of Science and of the Bible, 

respecting drunkenness, or its equivalent poisoning, in relation 

to the brain, and mind of man." 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 99 

We shall endeavor, as far as the nature of the theme, per- 
spicuity and precision will admit, to be brief, and avoid repeti- 
tion, — but reference to certain points, before treated of, seems 
necessary in this place. We found, in our investigation into 
the nature of drunkenness, (No. 9,) or, the adjective corres- 
ponding to it, " drunk" that the term was not sufficiently 
precise, in the ordinary sense attached to it, to convey, accu- 
rately, the true meaning of Scripture, viz : That any degree of 
disorder, or perversion of the mental or bodily faculties, which 
should interfere with self-government, — hinder " nice and accu- 
rate distinctions between delicate shades of good and evil, and 
corresponding actions," — "just judgment in any difficult point 
at issue," — " devout sentiments," — " capability of engaging in 
prayer to Grod, with faith, fear and fervor;" — or, " the faithful 
observance of religious ordinances," — was a stage of " drunken- 
ness," or its synonyme, "poisoning;" and, therefore, was 
interdicted in those passages of Scripture which forbid that 
sin; such as "Be not drunk (poisoned,) with wine, wherein is 
excess:" (Ephesians v, 18.) It had, also, been attempted to 
be shown, by a train of hypothetical reasoning, (No. 7,) that 
one or other of the following suppositions, must be admitted to 
be true, viz : 

1st. That the drinking of alcoholic liquors, in any quantity, 
is injurious to man in his normal state of health. 

2d. That there is a line, up to which the drinking of alco- 
holic liquors is not injurious to man,— but, beyond which, it is 
injurious, — which has not been discovered. 

3d. That the line has been discovered, up to which the drink- 
ing of alcoholic liquors is not injurious to man, but beyond 
which, it is injurious. 

The two first of these suppositions bear, upon their face, the 
necessity for total abstinence, in order to prevent the accession 
of the first stage of intoxication, or poisoning; and, the last, 
although according to it, the desiderated line has been found, 



100 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

would, practically, demand the same thing; for it were an utter 
impossibility, that every man, when drinking, could have his 
own physician by his side, to warn him when to stop — the 
moment the perilous point was reached — and the question could 
not be safely trusted to his own decision. But, not only have 
these difficulties to be surmounted, before we can fall in with 
the current doctrine, that it is lawful to use alcoholic liquors, in 
any measure, in man's normal state of health ; we have, more- 
over, the positive testimony of Carpenter, McCulloch, Youmans, 
Gregory, Reid, (No. 7,) and a host of other celebrated names, 
in the Old and New World, to sustain us in the conclusion 
above arrived at, that abstinence, from alcoholic liquors, is 
necessary to prevent intoxication in all its stages. 

The analogy of Scripture, (as far as it has been explored by 
us, including the interdict, of wine and strong drink, to the 
priests of Aaron,) of reason, science, and experience, respect- 
ing drunkenness, leads us, therefore, to expect, that if there 
are any apostolic precepts, concerning the use of alcoholic 
liquors, by Christians in general, to be found in the New Testa- 
ment, they will be precepts of total abstinence from such drinks, 
in man's normal state of health. 

We believe that there are such apostolic precepts, or declara- 
tions equivalent thereto, to be found in different parts of the 
New Testament. To certain passages bearing this interpreta- 
tion, we have already referred ; and, we have endeavored, by 
the literal translation of the words " nepho" and " nejphalios" 
to draw attention to the fact, that apostolic testimony, in this 
behalf, seems to be stronger than has usually been imagined. 
What more proper than that the Apostle Peter, in his first 
epistle to the strangers, scattered throughout Pontus, Gralatia, 
&c, suffering persecution for the cross of Christ, (I Peter i, 1- 
7,) after holding out to them, as incentives to resolution, and 
perseverance, and consolations under trials, — their high and holy 
destiny, and the sources of it; — "elect, according to the fore- 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 101 

knowledge of God, the Father, through sanctification of the 
Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus 
Christ ;" — their being "begotten again unto a lively hope by the 
resurrection of Jesus Christ, from the dead, to an inheritance 
incorruptible, and undefiled, reserved in heaven for them;" — 
their security in Him, "kept by the power of God, through 
faith unto salvation," &c. : What more proper, we say, than 
that the Apostle should follow up the announcement, of these 
heart-stirring motives, by this spirited and pointed exhortation : 
"Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, (tempe- 
rate, including abstinent from wine, wherein is excess,) and 
hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at 
the revelation of Jesus Christ ?" 

And so, in like manner, what method could have been adopted 
by the same Apostle, more necessary, or better suited, to secure 
the end he had in view, of keeping them in "the narrow way," 
and preserving them from relapsing into " excess of wine, 
revellings, banquetings," &c, after presenting to their minds, 
such motives as the sufferings of Christ for them, and the near 
approach of the day of judgment ; than that he should sum up 
the whole pathetic appeal with these emphatic words: "Be ye ' 
therefore sober, and watch unto prayer:" (I Peter iv, 1-8:) 
or. as we prefer, and as we seem justified in rendering the 
passage, according to Barnes, (Notes I Peter iv, 7 ; and Rob- 
inson's Lexicon — Sophronizo:) " Be ye therefore thoughtful, 
including under it, the idea of watchful, (sophr ones ate,) and 
temperate, including under it the idea of abstinence from 
intoxicating wine, (nepsate,) in order to prayer. Again, what 
more natural, than that the same ardent Apostle, who had 
suffered so much from the impetuosity of his temper, and 
unwatchfulness, should enjoin upon all, to whom he addressed 
his first epistle, whether office-bearers, or private members of 
the church, along with submission, one to another, and humility, 
and confidence in God, (I Peter v, 5-8,) the duty of vigilance, 



102 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

and temperance, in these memorable words: " Be sober, be 
vigilant; because your adversary the Devil, as a roaring lion, 
walketh about, seeking whom he may devour : whom resist 
stedfast in the faith;" or, as we would rather see the passage 
translated : "Be temperate, including the idea of not swallowing 
intoxicating wine, (" nepsate") be vigilant; (" gregoresate ;") 
because your adversary the Devil, as a roaring lion, walketh 
about, seeking whom he may swallow doion, (" katapie.") 
This rendering of the passage, we think, brings out more forci- 
bly and fully, than that of the authorized version, what appears 
to be the mind of the Spirit, who would thus, by the most 
energetic and alarming language, draw the special attention of 
Christians, in every age, to the necessity of abstaining from 
alcoholic liquors, by arousing their fears of the tremendous 
consequences to be apprehended from their use, even in the 
smallest quantity. It seems highly probable that St. Peter, 
when he penned it, had the 7th verse of the 28th chapter of 
Isaiah, vividly before his mind ; the figure of speech employed 
by him, as applicable to the Devil, being precisely the same 
which occurs in it, in reference to wine, thus: "But they also 
have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of 
the way ; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong 
drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way 
through strong drink," &c. The day of judgment alone, will be 
able to reveal what havoc of human souls shall have been perpe- 
trated by alcohol ! Can the churches — will the churches of 
Christ make no effort, to dry up this unintermitting fountain of 
temporal misery and everlasting woe, — heedless of the wails of 
the lost millions of souls, swept, by its pestilential streams, and 
surging billows, into " the lake which burneth with fire and 
brimstone, which is the second death!" Will they still cleave 
to their own empirical nostrums for the cure of this monstrous 
malady, and persist in rejecting the sovereign remedy which 
God has graciously provided and revealed, for that purpose? 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 103 

We subjoin a tabular view of the apostolic texts we have 
had under notice, in relation to this subject, as they appear in 
the authorized version ; and, as we have ventured to render 
them, arranged in parallel columns, to enable the reader, at 
one view, to institute a comparison between them, and to judge 
which translation is more in harmony with " the analogy of 
faith," and more clearly conveys the apostolic meaning. 
I am, my dear friend, 

Yours most affectionately, 

JOHN MATE. 



104 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 






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BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 107 



letter xiv. 
My Dear Sir, 

We have only one other injunction to consider 

under this head. It relates to Kings. The words are these : 

"It is not for kings to drink wine, Lemuel, nor for princes 

strong drink :" (Prov. xxxi, 4.) That this prohibition may be 

applied to all Christians, seems evident, upon similar grounds 

to those already dwelt upon, in relation to priests ; for all 

Christians are both kings and priests unto God, " and as such, 

the highest style of man;" and are bound to preserve their 

minds, at all times, capable of exercising the noble functions 

with which God has endowed them, in the best manner possible, 

(which the dietetic # use of alcoholic wine, places beyond their 

power,) according to His infinitely wise and holy law. 

III. The alarming and opprobrious epithets given to wine 
and strong drink, in the Bible. 

There are many alarming and opprobrious epithets given to 
wine and strong drink in the Bible ; and, we are disposed to 
think, that they have the force of literal precepts against the 
use of these liquors, by man in his normal state of health. A 
man, to whom is justly attached the name of liar, or thief, — 
and who is commonly known under that nickname, — needs no 
detailed history of his departures from truth, or honesty, to warn 
people against him, or to make them shun his society. Hence 
the point of the vulgar proverb, " Give a dog a bad name, and 
hang him" It is enough to deter persons, who have an ordinary 
regard for self preservation, from venturing beyond the bounds 
of an enclosure, if they see inscribed on a board, in large 
letters, the words: "Spring Guns," or "Man Traps," set 
here. The practice of labelling substances as " poisons," 

* By dietetic use of alcoholic wine, we mean all ingestion of wine, by man, 
which is not medicinal. 



108 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 



which are deleterious to man in health, — although in sickness 
they may be beneficial, — is universal, where the safety of 
human beings is duly cared for by the State, or by individuals, 
where sales of these things are made. In these and many 
other cases, which might be mentioned, infamous, opprobrious, 
menacing, or alarming epithets, are deemed sufficient to prevent 
the evils which would otherwise be likely to occur, — and save 
a multitude of words. How admirably has this method been 
had recourse to, in the Bible, in the case of intoxicating wine, 
for holding out to mankind, a salutary warning of the danger 
they incur, by at all intermeddling with a thing so destructive 
of human happiness, except when sickness converts the poison 
into a remedy ; or, to speak more correctly, the condition of 
the organism, and of the vital powers, so modifies its action, as 
to produce beneficial, instead of hurtful effects, upon the con- 
stitution. 

Take the following, as specimens of these terrific epithets, 
and judge if they have not, or if they ought not to have, all 
the force of prohibitory injunctions ; and to deter all persons, of 
sound mind, from taking liberties with that arch-poison, alcohol ? 
" Their wine (that of the heathen,) is the poison of dragons, 
and the cruel venom of asps:" (Deut. xxxii, 33 :) contrasted 
with the wine of God's ancient people, mentioned in the 14th 
verse of the same chapter, under the inviting appellation of the 
"pure blood of the grape." Here alcoholic wine is properly 
named " the cruel venom of asps;" for while it is so subtle 
and fatal as to cause death of the body in three hours, — and 
this kind of serpent cannot be charmed by musical sounds, as, 
it is said, others can: (Psalm lviii, 4, 5 :) — alcohol is an evil 
spirit, which mounts, with wonderful rapidity, to the brain, — 
the seat of man's intellect, — intrenches itself there, dethrones 
reason and conscience, seizes the reins of government, and 
throws the whole microscosm into a state of disruption and mis- 
rule. Having thus usurped the government, it hurries on its 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 109 

wretched victim to self-destruction, or to the commission of 
some horrid crime, to be atoned for at the gallows ; or, it causes 
him to rot upon the face of the earth, a lump of physical, moral, 
and social carrion, — loathsome, corrupting, and debasing to all 
around him. 

We have already offered some remarks (No. 8,) upon the other 
phrase, in this connexion, "the poison of dragons," illustrative 
of the end to be served, by the association of alcoholic wine 
with its mighty patron, "the great dragon, — that old serpent, 
the devil!" The next epithet to be noticed, is "the cup of 
devils," or of demons, — the wine which is sacrificed to them, 
and which they delight in, as their life's blood, — that, by means 
of which Satan and his hosts revel in human gore, luxuriate in 
the profanation of God's holy name, His holy day, and other 
sacred institutions ; whereby they stir up and prepare their 
emissaries for the perpetration of crimes of the greatest enor- 
mity ; sapping the foundations of self-respect, blasting reputa- 
tion, curdling "the milk of human kindness," converting it 
into poison; rendering the husband's heart cold, callous, and 
insensible to the piteous cries, the convulsive sobs, and passionate 
appeals of the wife of his bosom, and the children she has borne 
to him ; depriving the mother of the tenderness and gentleness 
natural to her, and substituting, for these dove-like qualities, 
the ferocity of a tigress robbed of her whelps, towards her 
helpless offspring! "Fire Water" is the name given by the 
North American Indians to ardent spirits ; and Robert Hall 
is understood to have called them, (properly plural, as signify- 
ing legion,) "double distilled d n;" but, to us, it seems 

that these names, appropriately terrific though they be, and 
savoring of the "bottomless pit," are far less expressive of 
their intrinsic vileness and destructiveness, than the soul-har- 
rowing epithets applied to them in Holy Writ, referred to above ; 
and we are of this opinion, because these Scriptural epithets 

represent the Devil himself, and bring him, with his confede- 
10 



110 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

rate spirits, palpably before the imagination, as the very con- 
centration and essence of all evil; while those of man are 
abstract terms, denoting the qualities of a substance — terms 
comparatively powerless, in exciting trepidation and abhor- 
rence ! Besides, they are not binding upon conscience, as the 
others are, and therefore they may be disregarded with impunity, 
while the Divine statutes are universally obligatory. 

"Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging; and whosoever 
is deceived thereby, is not wise :" (Prov. xx, 1.) 

" To mock," according to Johnson, is "to deride, to laugh 
at, to ridicule." "Mocker," according to the same eminent 
lexicographer: 1st. "One who mocks, a scorner, a scoffer:" 
2d. "A deceiver, an illusory impostor." Wine, in this portion 
of the revealed Word of God, is personified, and described as 
a mocker, or as one (an evil spirit,) who laughs at, or ridicules 
certain persons or things ; or scorns, or scoffs at them, as may 
best suit his purpose. And does not alcoholic wine answer, 
most accurately, to this description ? Where will you find a 
creature so thoroughly conversant in all the arts of fraud and 
imposture as this creature ? (the perversion of the fruit of the 
vine, as the Devil and other apostate spirits are of the angelic 
nature,) and yet, alas ! grave divines, and sage moralists, are 
not wanting, who, afraid of a transcendental morality, above 
that of the Gospel, call it "a good creature of God." Why 
do they, not form themselves, then, upon the model of this 
good creature ? Why do they not adopt his system of trickery ? 
Why do they not, as he does, scoff at things sacred and divine ? 
Why do they not, as he does, bar the door of God's sanctuary, 
and shut their families and servants out of it upon the Lord's 
day ? # Why do they not constitute themselves the patrons and 
encouragers of every form of vice, crime, profligacy, and sensu- 
ality ? Why do they not act consistently, and turn a deaf ear 

♦Surely distilleries, breweries, taverns, saloons, &c., the Devil's and alco- 
hol's work-shops do this to a monstrous extent. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. Ill 

to the cries of haggard, naked, squalid, beggared children, 
their favorite alcohol's victims? In naming it "a good crea- 
ture of God," they prove that they have been " deceived by 
it," and therefore "are not wise;" for there is not a single 
unambiguous passage, which they can quote, in the whole Bible, 
which warrants its receiving this commendation, while it abounds 
with expressions of opposition and hatred to it, as an evil 
thing. # 

The next epithet to be noticed, is, " raging," as applied to 
strong drink. " Strong drink is raging." By "strong drink," 
here, is to be understood, all other kinds of intoxicating drinks, 
except wine, as far as they were known to the Jews; and alco- 
hol, being the chief poisonous principle in them all, the term is 
applicable now, to every species of alcoholic beverage. In 
Johnson's Dictionary, " to rage," is "to be in a fury, to be 
heated with excessive anger." Of course, it is not meant that 
strong drink is heated with excessive anger, (under the present 
phase of the subject,) — a child would know this ; but that the 
person, using it, is on the verge of that state of mind, or has 
actually fallen into the vortex, where the reason is unseated, 
and the bestial and malignant appetites and passions dominate, 
like a devouring conflagration, sweeping everything before them 
in one tremendous mass of ruin. What must the state of that 
man be, who exposes himself to the impulses of unbridled passion, 
with all its dreadful consequences, by the use of strong drink, 
when this solemn warning of the Lord, is so expressly against 
it : " Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou 
shalt not kill ; and whosoever shall kill, shall be in danger of 
the judgment : But I say unto you, that whosoever shall say 
| 

♦Another view may be taken of this passage : Instead of wine being per- 
sonified as (c a mocker," its victims may be considered as mockers — wine 
standing for wine -drinker. This is the view taken by Scott, and other com- 
mentators, and this is the light in which we shall offer a few remarks upon the 
following context. 



112 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

unto his brother, Eaca, shall be in danger of the council : but 
whosoever shall say, thou fool, shall be in clanger of hell fire :" 
(Matt, v, 21, 22.) 

If drinking strong drink can be a justifying cause of anger, 
or other evil passions, then may all the robberies and assassina- 
tions, and deeds of darkness, which have been committed by men, 
under the influence of intoxicating drink, be justified ; and then 
the black list, which has been kept, of these deeds, in the book 
of God's remembrance, since the reign of alcohol began, will 
prove a dead letter, and all the executions of such criminals 
will have been judicial murders. But we would not have the 
traffickers in strong drink, or those who directly, or indirectly, 
encourage its use, to lay this flattering unction to their souls. 
He, who, in a state of intoxication, deprives a brother man of 
life, is, in the sight of God, we apprehend, and, according to 
human law, doubly guilty ; first, of the crime of drunkenness, 
and then, of the crime of murder ; nor do we see how the 
accessaries, to crimes of this description, whether churches, 
governments, distillers, brewers, or other promoters of them, 
can escape punishment, unless they repent, and find pardon 
through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

For the want of some better preventive, we could wish 
(alas ! that such a wish should be necessary,) that the rulers in 
Christian countries, would, under heavy penalties for omission, 
require every man (and he must be a member of a Christian 
church, in full communion,) who proposes to sell alcoholic 
drinks, to have erected, in a conspicuous place over his shop, 
or house door, a sign-board, having the following inscribed 
upon it, in flaming characters: "Sold here, in defiance of the 
Word of God, ■ wine and strong drink :' " " Wine is a mocker, 
strong drink is raging ; and whosoever is deceived thereby, is 
not wise :" (Prov. xx. 1,) 

" Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth 
his color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright ; at the last 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 113 

it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder :" (Prov. 

xxiii, 31, 32.) 

"Woe unto him who giveth his neighbor drink, that putt est 

thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also," &c. : (Hab. 

ii, 15.) 

" Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of 

devils :" (I Cor. x, 21.) 

Each vender should, also, be required to have engraved upon 

every bottle, decanter, measure, or utensil, in his establishment, 

the following words, along with his Christian and sur-name, and 

the name of the church to which he belongs, viz: Our " wine 

is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps:" (Deut. 

xxxii, 33.) 

"Be not among wine-bibbers," &c. : (Prov. xxiii, 20.) 
"The drunkard shall come to poverty:" (Prov. xxiii, 21.) 
"Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, . . 

nor drunkards, shall inherit the kingdom of God :" (I Cor. vi, 

9, 10.) 

I am, my dear brother, 

Most affectionately yours, 

JOHN MAIK. 



LETTER XV. 

My Dear Sir, 

The most express and comprehensive of all the 
statutes, against the use of intoxicating wine, remains to be 
considered. We refer to that contained in Prov. xxii, 31, 32 : 
" Look not thou upon wine when it is red, when it giveth its 
color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright ; at the last it 
biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder." This pre- 
cept, though primarily addressed to Solomon's son, evidently 
applies to all mankind, according to the word: "All Scripture 
is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, 
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness : that 






114 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

the man of Glod may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all 
good works :" (II Tim. iii, 16, 17.) 

No one, who has observed the process of the vinous fermenta- 
tion, can doubt that, in this passage, Solomon gives an accurate 
and beautiful description of it. It is the sole process by which 
the poison, alcohol, is generated. # The meaning of the passage, 
plainly is : That all persons are enjoined to keep at the greatest 
distance from the temptation of drinking wine, in their normal 
state of health ; but, if it applies to all men, it must include 
the blind as well as those who have the use of their eyes ; the 
meaning, therefore, must not be restricted to not looking with 
the organs of vision upon, or turning them away, from "the 
wine when it is red;" but must apply, also, to not looking with 
desire of the mind upon, or turning with aversion from it, as a 
forbidden object ; and, that this is the true sense of the passage, 
will be more evident, when it is remembered that the eye is the 
feature of the face most expressive of desire — -that when its 
function can be exercised, it is naturally turned towards the 
desired object ; and, that by a beautiful figure of speech, the 
look is put for the desire, in the instance before us. 

*It is said, under the article Fermentation, in Rees' Cyclopedia, that the 
product of alcohol seems to be one of the last effects in the completion of the 
process of fermentation ; for if the liquor is distilled while yet in a state of 
high fermentation, it will not yield a drop of alcohol. Through the kindness of 
Mr. Delavan, the question, as to the time when alcohol is generated, has been 
submitted to Professor Chandler, who, in his letter to him, of 22d September, 
thus writes : Ci The results of all my enquiries and experiments, on the subject 
of Fermentation, coincide with the views which I have already expressed. 
Alcohol is found the moment the process of fermentation begins, and the 
quantity continues to increase till the fermentation ceases. I have had a long 
conversation, on the subject, with Dr. Groessman, late assistant to Professor 
Wohler, of Gottingen, who has devoted himself to organic chemistry. His 
views, on the subject, coincide, perfectly, with my own." 

[Since the above was written, Professor Chandler has submitted the question 
to a series of most interesting experiments, the details and results of which 
are annexed at end of this Letter.] 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 115 

We can hardly conceive it possible, that language could have 
been made use of, by the inspired Monarch, which could have 
expressed, with more aptness, or precision, his design to produce, 
on his reader's mind, settled aversion to alcoholic wine, (the type 
of all intoxicating liquors,) than that employed by him, in the 
text under consideration. For, 1st. He strikes, by it, a deci- 
sive blow at the subject, the appetitive principle in man, by the 
emphatic words : " Look not thou upon ;" (by this, signifying : 
"Do not desire, or do anything having the least tendency to 
enkindle desire, or to increase it.") 2d. He strikes a no less 
decisive blow, at the interdicted article, or object,- (the moment 
it becomes objectionable, that is, as soon as alcohol has begun 
to generate in it,) in the graphic and pictorial words: "the 
wine when it is red, when it giveth his color in the cup, when 
it moveth itself aright;" — concluding the passage with the 
reasons, why he so objects to it, — " at the last it biteth like a 
serpent, and stingeth like an adder," &c. # We can conceive a 
philosophic and benevolent mind, — viewing drunkenness, or the 
effects of using intoxicating drink, as a great evil, and desirous 
of discovering a remedy for it, — reasoning in this manner : " I 
find that the use of wine, beyond a certain limit, is injurious 
to man, and ought not to be indulged in. I will restrict myself 
to so much daily, and I will advise all, over whom I have any 
influence, to act in a similar manner ;" — or, he might go a step 
farther, and say: " I will drink no more wine, the strength of 
which exceeds, so much of alcohol;" or, "I will only drink the 
weakest wine ;" or, "I will not drink wine at all, which has 
any superfluous spirit in it," (that is, upon the almost universal 
supposition of Christendom, that there is no wine without some 

* Uniting the two members of the sentence, according to the authorized 
version, the reading is : " Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when 
it giveth his color in the cup," &c. According to the proposed paraphrase: 
" Do not desire, or do anything, having a tendency to enkindle, or increase 
desire for the wine, when it is red." 



116 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

spirit.) This would seem to "be the ne plus ultra of human 
prudence, and self-denial, in this matter. But, does not this 
opinion clash with the fact, that teetotalers have, for years past? 
gone beyond this fancied ultimatum, and abstained from intoxi- 
cating wine, and all intoxicating drinks ? It seems to do so, 
certainly ; but, we apprehend, that if the truth were known, it 
might be found, after all, that what has been claimed as a 
human discovery, may, unwittingly, have been derived from the 
sacred records ; and that, somehow or other, such passages as 
this we are now considering, or others, referred to in former 
letters, may, in reading the Scriptures, have made impressions 
upon the minds of the early projectors of the temperance 
reformation, in their young days, the truths being retained long 
after the primary impressions were made, but the sources, 
whence they were obtained, being forgotten by them ; and thus, 
not only the Bible have been deprived of its due, but the Divine 
sanction, which alone can give power and permanence to the 
doctrine of total abstinence, been kept out of sight, and out 
of mind, as a thing not existing. As to Mahomet, who can 
doubt that he, Prometheus-like, must have stolen from the 
heavenly records, his law against wine, — from those writings 
which contain more powerful testimony against its use, in one 
emphatic interdict, such as this memorable one, of the wisest 
of men, Solomon, or that other one of his (not to mention a 
tithe of those, to be found, elsewhere in the Bible, which 
frowns upon alcoholic liquors of all kinds :) " Wine is a mocker, 
strong drink is raging ; and whosoever is deceived thereby, is 
not wise." 

In corroboration of this idea, we may notice that, we have 
examined the Koran, and find only the two following passages, 
which have any relation to " wine,' 1 in that book : " They (the 
infidels,) will ask thee, also, concerning wine and lots ; Answer 
in both there is great sin, and some things of use unto men, 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 117 

but their sinfulness is greater than tlieir use." # Again, " 
true believers, surely wine, and lots, and images, and divining 
arrows, are an abomination of the work of Satan ; therefore, 
avoid them, that ye may prosper. Satan seeketh to sow dissen- 
sion and hatred among you, by means of wine and lots, and to 
divert you from remembering God and your prayers. Will you 
not, therefore, abstain from them?"t 

Who, after this information and acquaintance with the 
scriptures, which have been quoted in previous letters, (if at 
all unprejudiced,) would not return his verdict for the Bible, 
against the Koran, as the more formidable antagonist of alco- 
hol, even upon the groundless supposition, that the one, as well 
as the other, was of Divine authority ? But who, knowing the 
one to be a tissue of falsehoods, with a thread, here and there, 
of truth, spun into it, and the other, a fabric of Divine truth, 
without the least interweaving of error, will hesitate to declare 
his conviction, after prayerful and careful examination of the 
evidence which has been adduced in these letters, from the 
Bible, in favor of the Christian and universal duty of total 
abstinence from alcoholic liquors in man's normal state of 
health, except the man who is prepared to prove that the fol- 
lowers of Mahomet are, and have been, intellectually incapable 
of knowing what is a prohibition, and, therefore, have been 
deceived, when they imagined that their prophet prohibited 
their use of wine ; or, that the testimonies of Scripture are 
not so strong against it, as those of the Koran ; or, that much 
stronger arguments must be used, than those of the Bible, 
superadded to those of the Koran, to substantiate the doctrine 
of total abstinence. For our own part, we apprehend that the 
radical remedy applied by Solomon, — " not to look upon the wine 
when it is red," — when the process of fermentation is going on 
in it, and alcohol is being formed ; or, as we have endeavored 

*A1 Koran, (Tegg., London, 1830,) p. 29. \I&. pp. 93, 94. 



118 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 



to explain the passage, (according to the spiritual character of 
God's law,) not to desire it, or do anything tending to excite, 
or increase the desire of it ; — is beyond the discovery of man's 
reason, unenlightened by revelation, because of the peculiarly 
deceitful and enticing qualities of the contained poison. Upon 
what other supposition can the repeated interdicts of alcoholic 
wine, and other alcoholic liquors, in Scripture, be accounted for, 
when, as far as we know, alcohol is the only material poison which 
is interdicted, (except by implication,) in the revealed Word of 
• God? If the necessity for total abstinence from it, and its 
consequences, could have been discovered, and the duty enforced 
by reason, observation, experiment, or human law; would God 
have deviated so far from His wonted course, as to have issued 
so many special interdicts against it, — when He has left man to 
his own instincts, perceptive reasoning, and moral powers, 
aided by the light of Scripture shed upon this arch-poison, to 
discover, and when discovered, to avoid other poisonous sub- 
stances ? But, it is not only the duty to abstain from this 
seductive > poisonous thing, which, we apprehend, could not 
have been discovered by man's natural efforts ; even if that 
duty could have been discovered and performed, the farther 
spiritual duty, not to have a desire after anything, with the 
remotest tendency to the violation of that law, (an exemplifica- 
tion of the perfect system of Christian morality,) could not 
have been discovered, or if discovered, could not have been 
complied with, apart from the Divine authority, the evangelical 
motives, and awful, eternal sanctions of vital Christianity. How 
fitting, then, that Solomon, in his regal capacity, so eminent a 
type of the Prince of Peace, should have been the honored 
instrument in God's hands, first to communicate this wondrous 
precept in all its fulness, so fraught with blessings, to mankind ! 
It must ever be viewed as a splendid monument to the wisdom 
of this most illustrious man, proving, beyond a doubt, that his 
penetration into the most hidden recesses of the human heart, 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 119 

was of the highest order, and rendering it probable that, of all 
who preceded the Redeemer, he was the one who approached 
nearest to the perfect standard of his master's unerring skill, in 
making known to the human race, the extent and spirituality of 
God's law, — although, alas ! in the practice of pure morality, 
he fell so infinitely short of his Divine antitype. 

Let us look once more, " not upon the wine," which, "at 
the last biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder," but 
upon the statute, proclaimed by Solomon for its destruction, 
and see if it is not the very summit of spiritual jurisprudence ! 
How could he have gone farther this way, than to interdict 
looking upon, or lusting after the wine when it assumes its red 
color, (indicative of the presence of alcohol dissolving the 
coloring matter of the grape,) and develops its air globules, in 
the process of fermentation ? seeing that, previous to this pro- 
cess, it is lawful and right, not only to look upon it, but to 
drink it, as a "good creature of God, not to be refused, if it 
be received with thanksgiving : For it is sanctified by the word 
of God and prayer :" (I Tim. iv, 4, 5.) 

I am, my dear brother, 

Yours most affectionately, 

JOHN MAIR. 



Prof. Chandler's opinion on the formation of Alcohol during 

fermentation. 
Edward C. Delavan: 

Dear sir : Perhaps you recollect that, just previous to your departure for 
Europe last Autumn, I reported my opinion on the formation of alcohol during 
fermentation. At that time I made some experiments with a view to decide 
the period during the fermentation, at which alcohol makes its appearance. 
A mixture of strawberry juice, sugar and water, was allowed to ferment, and 
as soon as it showed signs of fermentation was tested periodically for alcohol. 
I found that, as soon as fermentation was fairly set in, alcohol could be detect- 
ed, the proportion of which increased daily, as long as fermentation continued. 



120 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 



I have arranged the results of the experiment in the form of a curved line. 
They sustain the opinion which I first gave, i. e., that alcohol is the d rect 
result of the decomposition of the grape sugar. The cane sugar is first con- 
verted into grape sugar, by combining with water, and the grape is then dis- 
solved, by contact with the decomposing ferment of the juice, into alcohol and 
carbonic acid. 



5th day 0.03 per cent alcohol by vol. 

6th day 0.15 

7th day 0.50 

8th day 0.85 
12th day 1.50 
15th day 1.84 
18th day 2.66 
21st day 3.00 




21st day 3 per cent al- 
cohol by vol. 



18th day 2.66 per cent al- 
cohol by vol. 



15th day 1.84 per cent alcohol by vol. 



/ / 12th day 1.50 per cent alcohol by vol. 

/' / 8th day 0.85 per cent alcohol by vol. 

7th day 0.50 per cent alcohol by vol. 

{/ 6th day 0.15 per cent alcohol by vol. 
'/ 5th day 0.03 per cent alcohol by vol. Fermentation fairly commenced. 

The slight deviation from a constant regular increase in the percent - 
1st day. age of alcohol is probably due to the variation of the atmospheric 
temperature — heat facilitating and cold retarding fermentation. You 
will observe the curve varies but slightly from the dotted line drawn from 5th 
day to the 21st day. These results are in direct opposition to the extract from 
Bees' Cyclopedia " Fermentation:" c If a liquid be distilled while yet in a 
high state of fermentation, it will not yield a drop of alcohol.' " 

Respectfully yours, 

C. F. CHANDLER. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 121 



LETTER XVI. 

My Dear Sir, 

The Lord's supper is an ordinance which has 
given rise to keen and envenomed controversy. It has too 
often been made the Shibboleth of ecclesiastical or political 
party spirit, or the test of qualification for oflice, under most 
Christian Governments. These and other gross errors, which 
might be mentioned in connexion with this ordinance, have 
arisen from a palpable misconception of the design of its 
Author, or a perverse and irrational interpretation of the per- 
spicuous language in which He expressed Himself, at its insti- 
tution. 

But, it is not our intention to say anything more respecting 
these manifest departures from the truth of the Gospel, in these 
letters. We purpose to direct attention to a deviation from 
the rule of Scripture, in another matter, relative to the Lord's 
supper, which we deem of the highest importance, but which 
has been entirely ignored by ministers of the Gospel, and 
Christians generally. We allude to the use of alcoholic, or 
adulterated wine, instead of " the (unfermented) fruit of the 
vine," to represent the pure, sin-cleansing blood of the Lord 
Jesus Christ, at His supper. We hope to be able to prove, by 
and by, that the only substance which is authorized in the 
Bible to be used, as the proper emblem of the Redeemer's 
blood at u the Lord's supper," is "the (unfermented) fruit of 
the vine." But, previous to entering upon this investigation, 
it may not be amiss to say a few words in regard to the vile 
compounds dispensed at that sacred ordinance, and their com- 
pounders. And here we cannot do better than quote from 
your "Series of Letters to Professing Christians," published in 
1841; and, your "Letter to the Bishops of the Episcopal 
Church, on the Adulteration of Liquors, &c," 1859. 
11 



122 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

In the former you say: "The adulterations are of three 
kinds : that which is made on the spot in wine regions, and 
when fermented wine is both strengthened by the addition of 
ardent spirits, and adulterated by foreign admixtures. This 
kind of adulteration has a close connexion with the communion 
question ; for, in fact, the wine considered the purest and pur- 
chased as the purest, is indebted to ardent spirit, run from the 
distillery, for its principal strength. As evidence of this I 
will state a fact, received from the lips of a large dealer and 
importer of wine. His conscience was aroused on the subject of 
Communion wine. Knowing the general imposition practiced 
upon the churches, he resolved to import the pure, fermented 
wine, free from any admixture whatever ; he accordingly wrote 
to his agent at Madeira, giving strict orders that not a drop of 
ardent spirit should be added. The wine came, but, to all 
appearance, undiminished in strength. Surprised at this he 
determined to ascertain the cause, and wrote to his agent for a 
positive answer to the question : ' Was my order strictly com- 
plied with?' The reply was : 'We complied with the letter, 
but not the spirit of your order. We put no brandy into the 
wine, but we put the wine into the brandy, and the reason was, 
had we not made this addition, it would have spoiled before 
reaching you.' .... There is another kind of adultera- 
tion, far more extensive than the last. It is the pure, fermented 
wine, rendered more intoxicating by poisonous drugs, because 
the drugs used are cheaper than alcohol. Even when wine is 
only worth a penny a bottle, such is the cupidity of the dealer, 
that he will practice this kind of art to increase his gains. Is 
this the kind of wine proper for the Lord's table ? 

"But, by far, the most extensive and alarming adulterations, 
are the liquors sold as wine, in which there is net a drop of 
the fruit of the vine. This trade is one of the secrets which 

the day of Judgment can alone unfold An aged 

divine related to me what actually took place under his own 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 123 

knowledge. He was called to the death-bed of a manufacturer 
and dealer in liquor, called wine. In the course of his con- 
versation with the dying man, he put the question : 'Are the 
statements made in the temperance papers, respecting the adul- 
terations of wine, true V ' Yes,' said he, ' they are all true, and 
I am now suffering the deepest pangs of remorse for what I 
have done in this matter.' In connexion with this fact, the 
druggist of the town admitted, publicly, that while this trade 
was in its greatest state of prosperity, the sale of sugar of lead 
was in the greatest demand. I wonder what this dying man 
would have said, if he had been asked : ' Is the wine you have 
been making and selling, a proper substance to commemorate 
the dying love of that Saviour, before whom you are shortly 
to appear?' .... A gentleman of New York, of high 
standing, informed me, not long since, that he purchased a 
bottle of champagne, said to be pure as imported, and had 
it analyzed, and found it to contain one quarter of an ounce of 
sugar of lead ; and this is the wine the higher classes are now 
drinking in large quantities, especially the young. # 

" Receipt for making good Port Wine. — Take of good cider, 
four gallons; of red beets, two quarts; logwood, four ounces; 
rhatany root, bruised, half a pound. First infuse the logwood 
and rhatany root in brandy and a gallon of cider, for one week ; 
then strain off the liquor and mix the ingredients ; keep it in a 
cask for a month, and it will be fit to bottle, t 

"Another dealer came to the Temperance office, while the 
pledge only extended to ardent spirits, and said to me : ' You 
are doing more good than any man in America. I do not sell 
one cask of ardent spirits where I used to sell twenty, — here is 
a hundred dollars to help you on.' I was a little surprised that 
this man should hand me money to destroy his business ; but, 
on enquiry, I found he had become an extensive wine fabrica- 
■ — 

*The Enquirer: Vol. I, No. 1, p. 10. 

f Letter on Adulteration of Liquors, by E. C. Delavan, p. 19. 



124 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

tor — turning his ardent spirits into an article he called wine — 
and was realizing, at least, forty thousand dollars a year by this 
change of "business. 

" I once called into an establishment where the keeper was 
dealing out liquor to some young men ; after the youths had 
left, I asked him if he was not aware that what he had dealt 
out to them, was a fabricated, drugged liquor. ' Yes,' was his 
immediate reply, c I know all this — nothing would tempt me to 
drink the poisonous stuff; but they will have it, and if I do 
not sell it, others will.' # Medical men, advanced in life, have 
assured me that the effect of using intoxicating liquors now, is 
much more fatal to health and life, than thirty years ago. 
Then, liquors were comparatively pure. The alcohol in them 
was usually the only ingredient they had to contend with ; and 
then a habitual drinker, if he lived so long, did not become a 
known drunkard under twenty years; but now it frequently 
occurs, that the same amount of habitual drinking produces 
disease and intemperance in three years. This change, these 
medical gentlemen attribute to the presence of other poisons 
than the poison of alcohol, in the intoxicating liquors used by 
the people in such quantity. I could fill a volume with facts 
going to show, that as to wine, it is next to impossible to find any 
in this country, pure ; I mean pure, fermented, unenforced wine, 
and I believe the same in regard to distilled spirits.! The use of 
strychnine, in the manufacture of whiskey, is henceforth to be 
punished as a felony, in Ohio. By means of this drug, used in 
connection with tobacco, distillers were making five gallons of 
whiskey from one bushel of grain ; whereas the quantity obtained 
by the former old process, was but half as much.t 

''Hitherto, the adulterations have been gross and clumsy; 
logwood for coloring matter, a mild percentage of alcohol, 
gooseberry wine for champagne — and resin-water for every- 

* Letter on the Adulteration of Liquors, &g., p. 8. 
•f Delavan on Adulterations, p. 16. f Id. p. 16. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 125 

thing, being the basis of the English wine market. But now 
more subtle chemical agents are brought into play ; and, until 
Science has organized a detective police in proportion to her 
evil doers, we, the poor wine-bibbing public will be in a sad 
plight ; drugged and poisoned by every wine-bottle in our bins ; 
duped and cheated by our merchant, and his house in Bordeaux ; 
the unresisting prey of the doctor and manufacturing chemist, 
melancholy spectacle of the potency of a name, and the igno- 
rance of the uninitiated ! 

" Henceforth, let no one boast of his fruity port, of his 
tawny, or of his full-bodied. Those small, strong-smelling 
bottles, on the dusty shelves of an analytical chemist's labora- 
tory, will rise up in judgment against him ; butyric ether, acetic 
acid, and that deadly cognac oil, will stand out against them, 
accusing witnesses of his simplicity and ignorance. Hence- 
forth, the mystery of wine-making is at an end ; but wine itself 
is a myth, a shadow, a very Eurydice of life. There is no such 
thing, we verily believe, as honest grape-juice now remaining — 
nothing but a compound of vile, poisonous drugs, and impurely 
obtained alcohol ; all our beautiful Anacreontics are fables like 
the rest, for wine hath died out "from the world, and the labora- 
tory is now the vineyard / # " Owing to a mysterious disease, 
called the Fideum, whose ravages destroy the vine, the vintage 
in Maderia is nearly annihilated. From the year 1847 to 1850, 
the annual produce of the island averaged 16,915 pipes ; in 
1855, the whole produce was 29 pipes. From 1846 to 1852, 
the annual produce of the upper Douro in Portugal, was 91,533 
pipes ; the vintage of 1856 produced, with the addition of water, 
only 4,000 pipes of a liquid fit only for the merest purposes 
of local consumption." [Talk on change.] 

" Awake ye drunkards, and weep and howl, all ye drinkers of 
wine, because of the new wine, for it is cut off from your 
mouth :" (Joel i, 5.) 

♦Dickens' Household Words. 



126 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

" Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath :" (a Jewish 
measure for liquids, containing about seven gallons and a half:) 
(Isaiah v, 10.) 

A few remarks may now be proper, regarding the proportion 
of alcohol contained in the fermented wines of the Jews, during 
the sojourn of our Saviour and his apostles on earth. The Rev. 
Walter Henry Medhurst, in a sermon preached by him at John 
street chapel, Bedford Row, London, January 80th, 1838, from 
the text : "Add to your faith — temperance :" (II Peter i, 5, 6 :) 
has this passage : "It will readily be granted, that the wines of 
Judea were far less intoxicating than the wines in common use 
in this country ; that they were about the strength of Frontenac, 
or vin de grave, containing only 12 or 13 per cent of spirit, 
and this could be drunk in larger quantities, and with less 
injurious effects, than our brandied wines in England. Yet 
that they were fermented wines, and contained a certain pro- 
portion of latent alcohol, is, we think, as clear as the noon-day 
sun." Admitting the proportion of alcohol, above mentioned, 
to be correct, in regard to the beverages of intoxicating liquor 
drinkers ; (but denying the accuracy of the author's conclusions 
as to the use of such wine, by the Jews at their passover ;) let 
us compare it with the proportion of alcohol contained in the 
Port wine of the present day, according to the table of the 
distinguished chemist, Brande, # or that given by Barnes, in his 
Commentary.! The former estimates the proportion of alcohol 
in Port wine, at 22.96; the latter, highest kind, at 25.83; 
lowest, 21.40 per cent. Take the medium at 22 per cent of 
modern Port wine, and compare it with the medium of ancient 
Jewish wine, at 11 per cent, and explain the fact that each 
devout Jew, at the Paschal supper, was requested to drink 
five cups of such wine, equal to about two pints and a half of 
liquid, or half a pint of brandy, (brandy containing about 
five times the proportion of alcohol which the wine supposed 

♦Dictionary of Arts — Article Wine, f Notes on John, ii, 11. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 127 

to have been used by the Jews upon that occasion did ;) with- 
out bringing the grayest charge of intemperance against the 
parties concerned, even according to the lax views on that 
subject, held by moderate drinkers of the present day. Pardon 
this mode of appeal. We know that you spurn such an idea 
from you with righteous indignation, as unjust, ungenerous, and 
false. The preceding remarks are founded on data derived 
from the article " Passover," in Dr. Kitto's Cyclopaedia of 
Biblical Literature, where it is stated, that one of the ordinances 
of the Hit c hot h C hornet z, (whereby are typified the four 
blessings expressed in Exodus vi, 6, 7,) is that all persons, 
whether men or women, are bound on this night to drink four 
cups of wine, and this number is not to be diminished. Besides 
these four cups, wine was also drunk during the supper. " Such 
a quantity of wine of the modern kind,'' says the writer of 
this article, (" about two and a half pints English,) exclusive 
of water, drunk by each person present, would have transformed 
this sacred meal into a sad scene of revelry and drunkenness, 
which, considering the grave and temperate habits of the 
ancient Jews, we are not warranted to make." 

We leave these judicious and pertinent observations to speak 
for themselves. May they tend to open the eyes of Christian 
lovers of modern wines, to the impiety imbodied in their use of 
them at the Lord's table, for thus they act, as if it were possi- 
ble that the Lord Jesus Christ, the wisest and the most benevo- 
lent of beings, could have said to His Apostles, the night in 
which He was betrayed, "Drink ye all of it'" meaning not 
the corrupted fruit of the vine only, but far more — the intensely 
deceitful, polluted, and impoisoned cup, now habitually and 
almost universally dispensed at His table, as the symbol of His 
precious blood ! 

Trusting in Divine wisdom, grace and strength, we purpose, 
in future letters, to treat of the Communion question, as it has 
been called, in the following order : 



128 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

Part I. Christian duty, relative to the symbol of Christ's 
sin-atoning blood, to be used at " the Lord's supper." 

§ 1. The Divine Rule relative to the use of " the (unfermented) 
fruit of the vine," at the Lord's supper, as the sole symbol of 
Christ's sin-atoning blood, definite and unalterable. 

§ 2. The Divine Rule relative to the quantity of " the (unfer- 
mented) fruit of the vine" to be used at the Lord's supper, as 
the sole symbol of Christ's sin-atoning blood, indefinite and 
discretionary. 

§ 3. When, and how often, should the Lord's supper be admin- 
istered ?— Questions not positively resolved by Apostolic precept, 
but aid afforded in answering them by Apostolic usage. 

Part II. Reasons suggested for the preference given to u the 
(unfermented) fruit of the vine," above all other things, as the 
Divinely appointed symbol of the sin-atoning blood of the Lord 
Jesus Christ, at His supper. 

§ 1. The natural fitness of "the fruit of the vine," to be the 
Divinely appointed symbol of Christ's sin-atoning blood, to be 
used at His supper. 

§ 2. The natural fitness of " the fruit of the vine," to be the 
Divinely appointed antidote of alcoholic intemperance. 

§ 3. The moral power of "the fruit of the vine," to be the 
antidote of alcoholic intemperance, from the man-perceived, 
Heaven-revealed relation of that fruit to, and association with, 
the sin-atoning blood of Immanuel ; His preference to it, and 
appointment of it to be the sole symbol of that blood, to be 
used at His supper in remembrance of Him. 

§4. The grand ultimate objects to be subserved by the pre- 
ceding adaptations, " Glory to God in the highest, on earth 
peace, good will toward men." 

I remain, my dear brother, 

Yours affectionately, 

JOHN MAIR. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 129 



letter xvii. 

My Dear Sir, 

Is not the forbidden, corrupted "fruit of the 
vine," which flourishes now in the courts of the Lord's house, 
the counterpart presentment of the forbidden, corrupting fruit, 
that erst grew in the midst of the garden of Eden along with 
the Tree of Life? "And out of the ground made the Lord 
God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good 
for food ; the Tree of Life also in the midst of the garden, and 
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil :" (Gen. ii, 9.) 

"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every 
tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat : But of the tree of 
the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it : for 
in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die :" 
(Gen. ii, 16, 17.) 

Has it not been shown in former letters, by incontrovertible 
facts and arguments, that God has forbidden man to drink of 
the corrupted, or fermented fruit of the vine ; and have not 
allusions been made to the dreadful punishments which have 
been inflicted by Him, even in this life, on the transgressors of 
this benign and salutary law ? 

On the other hand, is not the Divinely enjoined and eulogized 
WTicorrupted, or uniermented. "fruit of the vine," which has 
been banished from the courts of the Lord's house, the coun- 
terpart presentment of the incorruptible fruit of the " Tree of 
Life," that erst grew in the midst of the Garden of Eden 
along with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil ? What 
material thing in the world, has been so productive of evil to 
man, as the corrupting fruit of the forbidden tree eaten of by 
our first parents ? "What material thing in the world, next to 
the corrupting fruit of the forbidden tree, has been so produc- 
tive of evil to man, as the corrupted and corrupting fruit of 
the forbidden tree — alcohol — drunk of hy their progeny? 



130 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

Is the Tree of Life anywhere else mentioned in the Bible, 
besides Genesis ? Yes, and in such a way as clearly to show, 
that by it we are to understand the symbolical, or sacramental 
representation of the Saviour of mankind. 

It is spoken of, as existing in the paradise above, in evident 
relation to the "Tree of Life " — in the paradise beneath; thus, 
" In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the 
river, was there the Tree of Life, which bare twelve (manner 
of) fruits, and yielded her fruit every month : and the leaves of 
the Tree, were for the healing of the nations:" (Rev. xxii, 2.) 

But is there anything in the Bible, to lead us to the dis- 
covery of what the Tree of Life really was ? for we believe it to 
have been an actual fruit-bearing tree. What saith the Scrip- 
ture ? It is written: "I (Jesus,) am the true vine:" (John 
xv, i:) and, "Drink ye all of it." .... "But I say 
unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, 
until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's 
Kingdom;" or, in Heaven, according to Hammond, Bishop 
Hall, and others : thus, " It is not long that I shall abide with 
you, nor shall I again celebrate this or any the like feast among 
you, till we meet in heaven, and partake of those joys which are 
wont to be figuratively expressed by new wine." — Hammond. 

"I will no more in this mortal state drink henceforth of 
this fruit of the vine, but I shall reserve myself for a more 
comfortable draught, sweeter than all the new wine earth can 
afford, which I shall enjoy in my Father's Kingdom, whereof 
ye shall be blessed partakers with me." — Bishop Hall. 

But how is fruit of the vine to be obtained in heaven as 
often as it may be desired, fresh, and of superior quality to that 
of earth, at all seasons ? The answer to this question has been 
alread}^ given from the Apocalypse, but that the words may be 
indelibly impressed upon the heart's memory, let them be 
repeated : 

"And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 131 

crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. 
In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, 
was there the Tree of 'Life, which bare twelve (manner of) fruits, 
and yielded her fruit every month : and the leaves of the tree 
were for the healing of the nations :" (Rev. xxii, 2.) 

Thus, fresh fruit would be within reach every month; and as 
no other tree is mentioned in heaven, but this one only; and as 
" things which are revealed, belong unto us and to our chil- 
dren ;" and as Jesus pledged Himself to " drink of the fruit 
of the vine new" with His Apostles in the paradise above, the 
only inference which can be drawn from these premises is, 
that "the Tree of Life" must be the tree which will produce 
the fruit of the vine, to be drunk by Him and His Apostles in 
the regions of everlasting happiness ; or, in other words, must 
be the vine in its highest state of perfection. No doubt these 
conclusions apply, in a figurative sense, to the fruit of the vine 
in heaven, signifying the spiritual delights thereof; but, if it 
be true that the enjoyments of heaven are represented by 
drinking of the fruit of the vine, which is the Tree of Life, 
then it will follow, that while the vine is the Tree of Life, 
metaphorically in Heaven, it must, to preserve consistency, 
have been the Tree of Life literally, in the garden of Eden, 
before the fall of our first parents. 

Milton, in his Paradise Lost, will throw some light upon this 
interesting subject. He puts the following language into the 
mouth of the Hierarch Raphael, giving an account of the 
sublime transactions connected with the apostacy of the fallen 
angels : 

. . . . "And what surmounts the reach 

Of human sense, I shall delineate so, 

By likening spiritual to corporal forms, 

As may express them best ; tho> what if Earth 

Be but the shadow of Heaven and things therein, 

Each to other like, more than on Earth is thought?" 

An evening meal in heaven, the arch-angel thus describes : 



132 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

Could the Lord's supper have been in the poet's mind, when he 
gave utterance to these words ? 

. . . . " Evening now approached — 

(For we have also our evening, and our morn 

We ours for change delectable, not need;) 

Forthwith from dance to sweet repast they turn 

Desirous ; all in circles as they stood, 

Tables are set, and on a sudden pil'd 

With angel's food, and rubied nectar flows 

In pearl, in diamond, and in massy gold : 

Fruit of delicious vines — the growth of Heaven, 

On fiow'rs repos'd, and with fresh flowrets crown'd, 

They eat, they drink, and in communion sweet, 

Quaff immortality and joy, secure 

Of surfeit, where full measure only bounds 

Excess, before the all-bounteous King who show'r'd, 

With copious hand, rejoicing in their joy." 

Here, it may be remarked, how closely this most sublime of 
earth's bards adheres to Scriptural truth, in his account of the 
nectar of heaven, describing it as "Fruit of delicious vines — 
the growth of Heaven," in drinking of which, " Angels quaff 
immortality and joy." Is it not possible, that if our first 
parents had eaten of the Tree of Life prior to eating of the 
forbidden fruit, they too might have secured to themselves 
immortality ? That tree being the sacramental sign and seal 
of life and felicity, partaking of it in faith, might have been 
instrumental in perpetuating these blessings, as partaking of 
the Lord's supper in faith, according to the Divine rule, would 
be in preventing apostasy, by creating a deadly hate to "the 
poison of dragons," — "the wine wherein is excess," — " the cup 
of Devils," — the love of which has brought so much dishonor 
upon the church of Christ, disgraced and removed so many of 
His ambassadors from the sacred office, and annually, (according 
to the Rev. W. Reid,) degraded or expelled from the ranks of 
His army, 30,000 soldiers in Great Britain alone ! 

How different the views of Milton from those of the majority 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 133 

of Christians in the present day, who would make intoxicating 
wine the emblem of celestial delights, so that " an innumerable 
company of angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect," 
instead of " quaffing immortality and joy," pure, and unsullied, 
"the fruit of delicious vines — the growth of Heaven," in the 
paradise above, would be quaffing misery and death, and turn- 
ing heaven into hell, as they drank " of the wine of the wrath 
of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of 
His indignation:" (Rev. xiv. 10.) 

Mark how the prince of poets judges of the forbidden fruit, 
the counterpart of intoxicating wine, the darling of modern 
churches, which, if the use of it be persevered in at the cele- 
bration of the most precious of ordinances, bids fair to bring 
on a second deluge, not of water, (the everlasting covenant of 
God forbids that,) but far worse, of fire-water ! 

. . . Cl Sky lowr'd and muttering thunder, some sad drops 

Wept at completing of the mortal sin 

Original ; while Adam took no thought, 

Eating his fill, nor Eve to iterate 

Her former trespass, fear'd the more to soothe 

Him with her lov"d society, that now 

As with new wine intoxicated both 

They swim in mirth, and fancy that they feel 

Divinity within them breeding wings 

Wherewith to scorn the earth: but that false fruit 

Far other operation first display'd, 

Carnal desire inflaming, he on Eve 

Began to cast lascivious eyes ; she him 

As wantonly repaid; in lust they bum." 

Milton thus inimitably describes their melancholy state : 

(i Soon as the force of the fallacious fruit 
That with exhilarating vapor bland 
About their spirits had play'd and inmost powers 
Made err, was now exhal'd and grosser sleep, 
Bred of unkindly fumes, with conscious dreams, 
Encumber'd, now had left them ; — up they rose 
As from unrest, and each other viewing 
Soon found their eyes how open'd, and their minds 

12 



134 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

How darken'd ; innocence, that as a vail 
Had shadow'd them from knowing ill, was gone, 
Just confidence, and native righteousness, 
And honor from about them, naked left 
To guilty shame ; he cover'd, but his robe 
Uncover"d more." 

A few remarks may here be offered upon this master-piece of 
Satanic invention, the mystery of alcohol. In the temptation 
practised by the Devil in Paradise, his object was to draw man 
into sin. By this temptation in regard to the fermented fruit 
of the vine, his object was to keep him in it, to bind him, in more 
adamantine chains irrecoverably to himself. He did not at first 
seek to deceive our first parents, by flatly telling them that the 
Tree of the knowledge of good and evil was the Tree of Life. 
He felt that he could not have been able to convince them 
of a thing so palpably false, as no doubt the one tree was very 
different in appearance from the other. Instead of that, he 
insinuated into the mind of the mother of the human race, a 
doubt as to the benevolence of God, and thus struck at the 
very root of all truth and virtue. Having made Adam and 
Eve, and with them the whole human family, the victims of his 
malevolence, by initiating them into the mystery of sin, he 
never devised a more perfect plan for rivetting its chains upon 
mankind, than that by which he seduced them into the belief that 
the seed of the woman, the Lord Jesus Christ, had appointed 
the fermented fruit of the vine to be the symbol of his sin- 
atoning blood. 

Satan knew full well, that the juice of the grape could be 
changed into an intoxicating drink by fermentation, (for he 
must have remembered what was the cause of the drunkenness 
of Noah, Lot, and others,) and he resolved to watch for his 
opportunity to foist upon man fermented grape-juice, instead of 
the pure fruit of the vine, as the proper symbol of the blood 
of his invincible enemy. 

This opportunity would offer itself when the love of Chris 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 135 

tians began to wax cold — then he would find it no difficult 
matter to convince them, that the Saviour must have intended 
the "fruit of the vine," when it became elevating and exhila- 
rating, and not till then to represent His blood ; because it was 
so prone to fermentation, and during that process, acquired 
excellent and almost superhuman medicinal qualities not before 
possessed by it, which rendered it a most suitable emblem of 
that sovereign and infallible remedy for all the spiritual mala- 
dies of mankind, " the blood of the Lamb !" 

Whether Satan, by this or some other ingenious artifice, 
succeeded in blinding the eyes of Christians to the evil nature 
and destructive effects of alcoholic liquors, plainly set forth in 
so many portions of Scripture, and keeping them in ignorance 
of the Divine statutes prohibiting their use, (so many of which 
occur in the Bible,) it is certain that they have been greatly 
deceived in this matter, and there can hardly be a doubt of the 
old Serpent having been the prime agent in the first allurement, 
or of his having used unabated efforts ever since to keep them 
in profound ignorance of the true nature of Bible temperance, 
by all sorts of stratagems, misrepresentations, and temptations. 

All our inquiries hitherto, have led to the conclusion that 
the use of alcoholic liquors, by man in his normal state of 
health, is condemned by the word of God, and the remarks 
just made (if sound,) are corroborative of the same doctrine. 

If we had lived before the Christian era, and possessed the 
same amount of knowledge upon this subject that we now do, 
we should have been prepared confidently to affirm, that if the 
Messiah, after His advent, should choose the fruit of the vine to 
be the symbol of His blood, it would be the pure, unfermented 
"fruit of the vine," — not the fermented or corrupted, — which 
he would choose for that purpose. 

In the nineteenth century after the humiliation upon earth, 
and exaltation into heaven of our blessed Lord, we are more 
confident than we could have been at any previous period, that 



136 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

we shall find, after rigid and impartial investigation, a perfect 
harmony existing between the Mosaic and Prophetical records, 
respecting wine of every kind, and our Divine Redeemer's 
choice of it in its pure state, to be the appropriate and signifi- 
cant symbol of His blood. 

The duty of all Christians to drink only of what He used 
and enjoined the use of at His supper, will appear more impe- 
ratively binding as we proceed. 

I remain, my dear brother, 

Yours affectionately, 

JOHN MAIR, 



LETTER XVIII. 

My Dear Sir, 

That the Divine Rule, relative to the use of " the 
unfermented fruit of the vine" at the Lord's supper, as the 
sole symbol of Christ's sin-atoning blood, is definite and unal- 
terable, may be shown under the following heads : 

IN A CEREMONIAL POINT OF VIEW. 

I. The Ceremonial Law prohibiting the existence of ferment, 
or any fermented article in the house of a Jew, or the use of 
such in a solid or liquid form (bread or wine,) at the Passover 
Feast, and during the seven days of unleavened bread ; and the 
obligation of Jesus to obey it. 

II. The Language used by the Evangelists, implying strict 
adherence to the Ceremonial Law in the use of unfermented 
things only, (bread and fruit of the vine,) at the Passover, of 
which our blessed Redeemer partook the night in which he was 
betrayed — the Fact that the same unfermented fruit of the 
vine was used by our Saviour, at the institution of His supper, 
as at the immediately preceding Passover supper — and the Law 
explicitly laid down by Him, strictly requiring of all Christians 
the use of the unfermented fruit of the vine as the symbol of 
His blood at His supper till His second coming. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 137 

IN A MORAL POINT OF VIEW. 

I. The Moral Law, prohibiting man in his normal state of 
health, from using fermented wine, or other alcoholic liquor, 
because of its signal tendency to impair and pervert the bodily 
and mental faculties, and prevent him from performing his 
duties to God, himself, or his neighbor — solemnly ratified by our 
Lord Jesus Christ, choosing "the unfermented fruit of the 
vine" to be the sole symbol of His sin- atoning blood at His 
supper, through all generations, till His second coming. 

IN A CEREMONIAL POINT OF VIEW. 

I. The Ceremonial haw 'prohibiting the existence of fer- 
ment, or any hind of fermented article in the house of a Jeiv, 
or the use of such in a solid or liquid form (bread or wine,) 
at the Passover Feast, or during the seven days of unleavened 
bread ; and the obligation of Jesus to obey it. 

This Law is to be found recorded Exodus xii, 15, 19 20 : 
xiii, 3, 6, 7: " Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even 
the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses : 
for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the 
seventh, that soul shall be cut off from Israel." " There shall 
no leavened bread be eaten — Unleavened bread shall be eaten 
seven days ; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with 
thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy 
quarters." 

Dr. Lees, in the article " Leaven," Cyclopaedia of Biblical 
Literature, remarks : "All fermented substances were pro- 
hibited in the Paschal Feast of the Jews; (Ex. xii, 15, 19, 20,) 
also, during the succeeding seven days, usually called the Feast | 
of Unleavened Bread, though bread is not in the original." 

God forbade either ferment or honey to be offered to Him, in 
His temple, (i. e., in the symbolical rites,) while they were per- 
mitted in offerings designed to be consumed as food:" (Num. 
xv, 20, 21.) And thus writes Prof. Moses Stuart : " The com- 
mand, in Ex. xii, 15 : xiii, 3, 7, is not expressed by bread, but by 



138 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

declaring that they should not eat anything ferme?ited. Now 
as the word translated eating, is in cases without number, 
employed to include a partaking of all refreshments at a meal, 
that is of the drinks as well as of the food, the Rabbins, it would 
seem, interpreted the command just quoted, as extending to 
the wine as well as to the bread of the Passover. The Rabbins, 
therefore, in order to exclude every kind of fermentation from 
the Passover, taught the Jews to make a wine from raisins or 
dried grapes, expressly for that occasion, and this was to be 

drunk before it had time to ferment I cannot 

doubt th&t ferment, in its widest sense, was excluded from the 
Jewish Passover, when the Lord's supper was first instituted; 
for I am not able to find evidence to make me doubt that the 
custom among the Jews, of excluding fermented wine as well 
as bread, is older than the Christian era." # 

To the same effect are the following quotations : " The Pass- 
over Law, in the prohibition of all fermented things, furnishes 
another example of symbolic teaching. Ferment was rightly 
viewed by the ancients as corrupted matter, and hence excluded 
from the purest offerings, both among the Jews and Gentiles." 
" The frame of mind in which we are to celebrate the Christian 
Passover," says Jones, "is described to us in terms borrowed 
from the Jewish ; this feast we are to keep with the unleavened 
bread of sincerity and truth, free from all impure mixture of 
worldly affections, pharisaical pride, hypocrisy and false doc- 
trine. Here we perceive, an evil or corrupted thing is the type 
of moral corruption, and could not, therefore, also be the 
appropriate type of ' the bread of life.' Bread, simply as bread 
in its generic sense, may be used as the symbol of pure truth ; 
but the fermented bread, as such, cannot. Thus water, simply 
as water, or specifically clean or pure water, appropriately sym- 
bolizes the water of life ; but tainted or bitter water cannot. 
Is it not evident then, from such examples, that the physical 

* Dr. Robinson's Bibliotheca Sacra. New York, 1843 : p. 507. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 139 

qualities of such things must determine their symbolic or figu- 
rative expression." * 

In a letter, as late as 1844, from a Jew, who, previous to his 
conversion, was for many years a Hebrew teacher among his 
people, and residing in Manchester, England, there are the 
following passages : "All the Jews then, with whom I have ever 
been acquainted, are in the habit of using unintoxi eating 
wine at the Passover ; a wine made in this country expressly 
for the occasion, and generally by themselves." "In short, 
the Jews, as far as I know, use a perfectly unintoxi eating 
wine at this delightful feast ; the reason why they do so being, 
that the use of the common fermented wine would be a contra- 
vention of the Law of the Passover." t 

These quotations may suffice to show, that it is the right 
interpretation of the language made use of by Moses, in the 
estimation of men versant in the literature of the Hebrews, 
and competent judges of the matter. But we would by no 
means adhere to the voice of authority, however celebrated, if 
opposed to common sense ; and we are clearly of opinion, 
that the views adopted by these writers are in accordance with 
the dicta of this sound arbiter. What is the principle upon 
which the law, forbidding the use of leaven or ferment, seems 
to have been based ? Is it not the principle of corruption ? 
Did not the Almighty Lawgiver, prior to the promulgation of 
this law, by the hand of His servant Moses, clearly discern the 
end from the beginning ? Did He not perceive that the law in 
its development would exert a powerful influence upon the 
physical, moral, and religious destinies of man ? Was there 
in His sight an essential difference between solids and fluids, so 
that He should have appointed a law debarring His creature man 

* A Lecture on the Harmony of Teetotalism with the Divine Word, abridged 
from the works of Dr. Lees, p. 5. 

\ An earnest Appeal in behalf of Total Abstinence, addressed to Ministers of 
the Gospel, &c. By G. Marshall, Esq., of Nova Scotia: p. 67. 



J 



140 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

from the use of corrupted food under special circumstances, 
while under the same circumstances He should have deemed it 
unnecessary to forbid him the use of corrupted drink ? 

Does not every person of sound understanding, see how very 
easily a law of this sort could be evaded by converting a solid 
into a fluid substance for the occasion, as for example, bread 
into gruel, &c. It were perfect foolery, and worse than foolery 
— it were gross impiety — to entertain such degrading thoughts 
of the All- wise Ruler of the Universe, and of His laws which 
are characterized by infinite skill, and perfect adaptation to the 
wants of man. The natural interpretation of this law, is 
obviously this : That no corrupted thing, solid or fluid, should 
be in the house of a Jew, or used by him during the seven 4ays 
of the Passover, because the ordinance of the Passover was 
typical or symbolical of Him who could not see corruption. 

We proceed now to show, that it behoved our blessed 
Redeemer to adhere strictly to the requisitions of the Ceremo- 
nial Law, in His ordinance of the Passover Feast. Our Lord 
was an Israelite, or Jew, of the seed of Abraham, according 
to the flesh, (Rom. ix, 5,) and as such, the eighth day He 
underwent the initiatory rite of circumcision ; (Lev. xii, 3 : 
Luke ii, 21.) that rite forming an essential part of the national 
covenant. He was also baptized by John, (Matt, iii, 15,) for thus 
said He, " it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness ;" and pre- 
sented before the Lord at Jerusalem, (Ex. xiii, 2 : Luke ii, 22.) 
These instances of His strict obedience to the Ceremonial Law 
are given, as illustrations of the truth, that being circumcised 
He "was a debtor to do the whole law," ceremonial as well as 
moral:" (Gal. v. 3.) 

There can be no doubt, therefore, that He would strictly 
observe the Passover law, with regard to unfermented things. 
Indeed, His own emphatic language is conclusive upon this 
subject : " Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the 
prophets : I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil : For verily 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 141 

I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle 
shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled :" (Matt. 
y, 17, 18.) 

II. The Language used by the Evangelists , implying strict 
adherence to the Ceremonial Law in the use of unfermented 
things only (bread, and fruit of the vine,) at the Passover, of 
which our blessed Lord partook the night in which He was 
betrayed. 

It is well worthy of notice, that at the commencement of the 
account of the Passover supper, given by each of the Evangelists, 
Matthew, Mark and Luke, the nature of that supper as a meal, 
consisting of unfermented things, is distinctly pointed out, thus : 
Trj de upG)rrj tcjv atyfjicov (Te de prote ton azumon,) in the 
authorized version. "Now the first day of the feast of unleavened 
bread;" literally, Now the first (day) of unleavened, or unfer- 
mented things : (Matt, xxvi, 17,) "Kyy^e de 7] eoprfj tgjv &£vug)v 
(Eggize de e eorte ton azumon,) in the authorized version. 
■'Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh;" literally, 
Now the feast of unleavened, or unfermented things drew nigh : 
(Luke xxii, i.) And again : 'H/Ute de r\ fjfiepa rcov a^v[io)v (Elthe 
de e hemera ton azumon,) in the authorized version. "Then 
came the day of unleavened bread;" literally, Then came the 
day of unleavened, or unfermented things : (Luke xxii, 7.) 
That the rendering, we have ventured to give of these passages, 
is correct, will be demonstrated by attention to the following 
remarks, explanatory of Mark xiv, 1 : r/ Hv de to Ttaoxa ical rd 
a^vfia [lerd dvo rjfiepag (En de to pascha kai ta azuma met a 
duo hemeras,) according to the authorized version. "After two 
days was the feast o/the Passover, and of unleavened bread ;" 
literally, After two days was the Passover and the unleavened, 
or unfermented things — omitting the words in italics, " the 
feast of," and using the nominative instead of the geni- 
tive case. In the twelfth verse of the same chapter : Kal tt\ 
ttogjtt} r\\ieoa tgjv a£v[M*)v (Kai te prote hemera ton azumon;) 



142 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

the literal rendering of the words, "And the first day of 
unleavened bread," is: And the first day of unleavened, or 
unfermented things. Our rendering of the first verse of this 
chapter is the only rendering which can be received, so as not 
to bid defiance to the most common rule of grammar — that an 
adjective must agree with its substantive in gender, number, 
and case — for azuma is the neuter gender, plural number, and 
nominative case of the adjective azumos, and if translated 
bread, (as it has been in the authorized version,) it will not 
agree with artoi, the plural number of the masculine noun 
" art os," which is the word used in the same chapter to signify 
bread, and in all the other Gospels ; while the word " lag ana " 
(supposed to be understood,) is nowhere to be found in the New 
Testament, if we are to receive Dr. Robinson's Lexicon, edited 
by Dr. Bloomfield, as competent authority upon this subject. 
On the other hand*, the translation proposed above, viz : " unfer- 
mented things," meets all the requirements of the case, and is 
perfectly in accordance with the established grammatical rule in 
similar instances — as illustrated by the following examples — 
where an adjective in the neuter gender, plural number, is 
associated with things, (erga, a neuter noun plural being under- 
stood.) "Thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, (ta 
agatha sou,) and likewise Lazarus evil things:" (ta kaka :) 
(Luke xvi, 25.) "If I have told you earthly things, (ta 
epigeza,) and ye believed not, how shall ye believe, if I tell 
you of heavenly things:" (ta epourania :) (John iii, 12 s ) 
What has been said under this head will, we trust, plainly 
prove that the language of the Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, 
and Luke, in regard to the Passover, must apply, not to unfer- 
mented bread only, but to unfermented things, (bread, and fruit 
of the vine.) That unfermented fruit of the vine was actually 
used at this Passover by our blessed Redeemer, will appear an 
incontrovertible fact to any one, who, with an attentive and 
unprejudiced mind, reads continuously from the 7th to the 18th 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 143 

verse of the 22d chapter of Luke's Gospel, adopting the literal 
translation of the 7th verse, Then came the day of unfermented 
things, — instead of " Then came the day of unleavened " bread, 
when the Passover must be killed," — concluding with the 
words : "For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of 
the vine, until the Kingdom of God shall come;" at which the 
account of that sacred feast ends. The contrary supposition, 
that the liquid used at that feast was fermented, would involve 
the impious and blasphemous assumption, that the Divine 
Redeemer violated the law, which He Himself had enacted ; an 
assumption, which every Christian must repudiate and shrink 
from, with abhorrence and detestation ! setting at defiance 
the analogy of faith, and offering cruel violence to the language 
of the inspired Evangelists. 

The Fact that the same unfermented fruit of the vine ivas 
used by our Saviour at the institution of His supper, as at the 
immediately preceding Passover supper ; and the Law expli- 
citly laid down by Him, strictly requiring of all Christians 
the use of the unfermented fruit of the vine, as the symbol of 
His blood at His supper, till His second coming. 

As it has been established, we trust, upon a foundation 
beyond the power of ingenuity or malevolence to shake, that 
unfermented bread, and fruit of the vine, were used at the last 
Passover, and must have been used by our Divine Master on 
that occasion, in accordance with His own Law ; we shall hold 
it to be established, also, upon immovable foundations, that 
the same unfermented bread, and fruit of the vine, were used at 
the Lord's supper immediately following, unless the determined 
contenders for the use of alcoholic intoxicating wine thereat, 
shall bring some feasible argument to show that fermented 
bread and wine were substituted for unfermented, at the end of 
the one and the beginning of the other supper, not to honor and 
symbolize the Redeemer and His blood, but to oppose and 
stigmatize them. "We merely ask of any honest, right-feeling, 



144 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

right-thinking man, to read carefully the narratives of Mat- 
thew, Mark, and Luke, upon this subject, assured that he will 
arrive at the same conclusion which we have arrived at, that 
unfermented bread and fruit of the vine, were the articles used 
by our Lord at the Passover supper, and at His own supper. 

As to the law, explicitly laid down by Him, (our Saviour,) 
strictly requiring of all Christians the use of " the unfermented 
fruit of the vine," at His supper, much need not be said. To 
those who would sneer at the proposed use of unfermented fruit 
of the vine, and reject it, upon the ground of the ordinance of 
the Lord's supper being a ceremonial, or ritual appointment, 
and its having been the universal custom of the churches of 
Christ to dispense alcoholic, or drugged wine, from time imme- 
morial, at the Lord's supper, as the emblem of the Redeemer's 
blood, we would observe : True, it is a ceremonial appointment, 
(in one sense,) as circumcision and the Passover, under the 
Jewish dispensation were ; but as it was the duty of the Jews 
to perform the rite of circumcision in the prescribed manner, 
and to present only clean animals without blemish, at the 
Passover, and as burnt offerings, were offered up according to the 
ceremonial law, as typical of the one great sacrifice to be offered 
up in the fulness of time for "the sin of the world;" so it is 
the duty of all Christians, to use only uncorrupted fruit of the 
vine, as the emblem of the pure blood of the Lamb of God — 
the Lord Jesus Christ, who has atoned for sin on the accursed 
tree. We hold this doctrine to be true, and must maintain it, 
until all that we have written upon the subject can be proved 
to be erroneous ; and until those who differ from us, can make 
it plain that there is no essential difference in the sight of God, 
as revealed by Him in His Word — between a drink which con- 
tains the poison, alcohol, and one which does not. 

Scott, the eminent commentator, would seem to be of the 
same mind as to the general principle. Whether, if he were 
living, he would assent to our application of it, we cannot tell. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 145 

His words are these : " Indeed, ritual precepts are for the time, 
equally obligatory ; except when they come in competition with 
moral duties, and then the Lord will have mercy and not sacri- 
fice." (Exodus, Notes chap, xx, 1.) 

Upon this subject, Bishop Butler expresses himself with 
great energy to the same effect, in the following words : "As it 
is one of the peculiar weaknesses of human nature, when upon 
a comparison of two things, one is found to be of greater 
importance than the other, to consider this of scarce any impor- 
tance at all ; it is highly necessary that we remind ourselves, 
how great presumption it is, to make light of any institutions 
of Divine appointment ; that our obligations to obey all God's 
commands whatever, are absolute and indispensable ; and that 
commands merely positive, admitted to be from Him, lay us 
under a moral obligation to obey them ; an obligation moral, in 
the strictest and most proper sense." # 

As to a long habit of sin, affording a plea for continuing to 
break any, the least of God's commandments, no one who 
knows the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and admits the truth of 
St. James' position, — " Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and 
yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all:" (James ii, 10,) — 
can hold such a doctrine for a moment. We maintain, then, 
that it is the duty of all Christians, (in this point of view,) at 
the present time — and it will be the duty of all Christians, till 
Christ's second coming — to use unfermented fruit of the vine 
only, as the symbol of His blood at His supper, because their 
Lord and Master used it at the institution thereof; if it be 
granted that it is their duty to observe this ordinance at all, 
for we cannot conceive that He would have used it under such 
solemn circumstances, if He had not intended that all His 
followers should do the same upon all occasions. 

* The Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed, to the Constitution and 
Course of Nature. By Joseph Butler, D. C. L., late Lord Bishop of Durham. 
Part II, Chap. 1. 
13 



146 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

But we have other, and stronger arguments to advance. 
Hear the language which our blessed Lord addressed to the 
disciples, the night in which He was betrayed, respecting the 
cup which He presented to them, and its contents, and say if 
it is not plain, precise, and commanding ; and if, when viewed 
in connexion with that subsequently addressed by St. Paul, 
primarily to the church at Corinth, and secondarily to all 
Christians, there can be a question as to the duty of obeying 
that command in relation to unfermented fruit of the vine, 
without evasion or prevarication ? 

It is necessary to remember that the title or index to the 
chapters in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, where 
the Lord's supper is treated of, is the unfermented things, or 
"the day of the unfermented things;" so that with the per- 
fectly allowable and even required prefix — "unfermented ," in 
every instance where the cup, or "fruit of the vine," is men- 
tioned — there can be no doubt as to the true meaning of the 
inspired writer. Let us examine the passages, relative to this 
subject, in the Gospel of Matthew, and introduce the term 
" unfermented fruit of the vine," where it is referred to : "And 
He took the cup, (' unfermented fruit of the vine,') and gave (it) 
to them saying, Drink ye all of it; ('unfermented fruit of the 
vine ;') For this (' unfermented fruit of the vine,') is my blood, 
which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say 
unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this (' unfermented 
fruit of the vine,') until that day, when I drink it (' the unfer- 
mented fruit of the vine,') new with you in my Father's King- 
dom:" (Matt, xxvi, 27-29.) 

In these three verses, " the unfermented fruit of the vine," is 
five times explicitly and emphatically referred to, either with the 
definite article or demonstrative pronoun. We have gone over 
the corresponding passages in the Gospels according to Mark 
and Luke, in the same manner, and find that in the former 
there are six, and in the latter three similar references to "the 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 147 

fruit of the vine," — in all, (if we have not erred,) fourteen in 
number, in six verses, — and in the 11th chapter of I Corin- 
thians, from the 25th to the 29th verse, where St. Paul treats 
of the Lord's supper, six additional references — total twenty. 
After this can it be said, that any ritual command in the Bible 
is more distinctly or repeatedly laid down, or more emphatically 
(within so small a compass,) than that which enjoins the use of 
"the unfermented fruit of the vine," as the symbol of the 
Saviour's sin-atoning blood, at His supper; and if so laid down, 
can it be disregarded without sin ? 

IN A MORAL POINT OE VIEW. 

The Moral Law prohibiting man, in his normal slate of 
health, from using fermented alcoholic wine, or other alco- 
holic liquor, because of its signal tendency to impair and 
pervert the bodily and mental faculties, and prevent him 
from performing his duties to God, himself, and his neighbor 
— solemnly ratified by our Lord Jesus Christ, choosing the 
unfermented fruit of the vine to be the symbol of His sin- 
atoning blood, at His supper, till His second coming. 

We trust it has been made abundantly plain, in the course 
of this investigation, by copious references to the Divine Word, 
that God's moral law is specifically directed against the use of 
fermented, alcoholic wine, and other alcoholic liquors by man 
in his normal state of health; and this on account of its signal 
tendency to impair and pervert the bodily and mental faculties, 
and prevent him from performing his duties to God, himself, or 
his neighbor. 

Scott, to whose Commentary we have so often referred, has 
the following judicious remarks, which, with others quoted 
from Jonathan Edwards, in a former letter, seem fully to 
justify us in the course we have pursued, in receiving the testi- 
mony of God, in whatever form communicated, as tantamount 
to a law against alcoholic liquors, if His disapprobation of their 



148 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

use lias been evidently implied in that testimony. In speaking 
of the ten commandments, Scott says : " We are authorized by 
the example of Christ, to interpret every one of these command- 
ments in the strictest, most spiritual, and extensive sense of 
which it is capable. Even repentance, and faith in a Mediator, 
and all evangelical graces and duties, are exercises of this 
entire love of God, and are required of sinners placed under 
a dispensation of mercy; though originally the law had no 
direct connexion with redemption, but lay at the foundation of 
another covenant. We may, therefore, waive the controversy 
concerning the rule of duty, whether this be the ten command- 
ments, or the whole word of God; for the one, properly under- 
stood, will be found as broad as the other, seeing we cannot 
love God, with all our hearts, unless we love every discovery 
which He is pleased to make of His glory, believe every testi- 
mony, and embrace every promise which He gives ; seek His 
favor in the use of all the means which He appoints, and 
employ ourselves in diffusing the knowledge of His glorious 
excellencies and wonderful works, according to our ability and 
opportunity, and the station which we occupy in society." # 

That the law against the use of alcoholic liquors, by man in 
his normal state of health, is part of the Divine law of love, 
appears to be perfectly undeniable. The law of alcohol, how- 
ever, is not one-sided, and we should take an imperfect view of 
it, if we were to keep out of sight that counterpart of it, 
which concerns the medicinal use of alcoholic liquors, which 
more properly and strictly falls within the province of the 
physician. Reference has been made to the employment of 
alcohol as an agent in the cure of disease, in a former letter, 
where it has been shown by appeal to Professor Miller's work, 
"Alcohol, its Place and Power," that great watchfulness is 
required in its medical application. Nevertheless, it ought not 

* The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testament^ with explanatory 
notes, &c. Notes, Exodus ch. xx, v. 1. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 149 

to be forgotten that it is, at times, a useful medicine. But 
even in this department it must candidly be admitted, that it 
has often been most indiscreetly and improperly used, and no 
small debt of gratitude is due to Dr. Mussey, for the light 
which he has thrown upon the subject, in his Prize Essay on 
Ardent Spirits. It would almost seem as if the universal 
impression upon men's minds throughout Christendom had 
been, that not only were alcoholic drinks absolutely necessary 
for the preservation of health, but also that alcohol was a 
universal remedy for " all the ills that flesh is heir to," mental 
and bodily ; for where, until of late years, was the liquid prescrip- 
tion of a physician to be met with, which had not some alco- 
holic ingredient ? — and where was there an occasion, joyful or 
mournful, public or private, social or domestic, at which wine 
or strong drink was not introduced as indispensable ? There is 
something amazingly absurd, as well as sinful, in the very 
thought that such opposite ends, as have been alluded to above, 
could have been accomplished by the very same heaven-appointed 
means. 

Who, having any head at all, would dream of clothing himself 
with the same thick woolen clothing in the dog-days, as in the 
depth of winter? Who, but a madman, would propose such a 
thing as having the grates or stoves of his bedroom, or sitting- 
room, full of intensely ignited fuel, when the thermometer was 
at blood heat, and a few half-extinguished embers there, with 
the thermometer at 20° below zero ? Who, in the name of 
common sense, would prescribe mutton-chops or plum-pudding, 
as diet for a patient in a high state of inflammatory- fever ? But 
all such absurdities, great as they would be, seem to have met 
their parallel, and more than parallel, in the presumptuous 
application of alcoholic liquors in the most antagonistic states 
of the mind and body of man; and this too, in the teeth of the 
plainest and most powerful appeals of Scripture against such a 



150 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

course, and in breach of laws 'positive and moral, more explicit 
or precise than which, never did any adorn any statute book ! 

We shall next endeavor to show, that the moral law against 
the use of alcoholic liquors, in maris normal state of healthy 
and by implication [if not positive statute,) for their use when 
necessary in disease, has been solemnly ratified (as tvell as 
carried out,) by our Lord Jesus Christ choosing the " unfer- 
moited fruit of the vine" to be the sole symbol of His sin- 
atoning blood at His supper, through all generations, till 
His second coming. 

It is well known that very generally, professing Christians 
have maintained the doctrine, that alcoholic wine was used by 
the Lord Jesus Christ at the institution of His supper, and that 
the same wine was commanded by Him to be used by His disci- 
ples, at the future celebrations of that ordinance. 

In recent times, a controversy has arisen upon this subject, 
and although a majority of professing Christians still adhere to 
the opinion, that fermented, intoxicating wine was the liquid 
which was dispensed at the first communion held in u the upper 
room," at Jerusalem, the night in which Jesus was betrayed; 
yet there are not wanting, those who feel convinced that this is 
a gross and unfounded error, and are assured that unfermenled, 
u nint ox i eating "fruit of the vine" (as, we trust, has been 
satisfactorily proved,) was the liquid which was dispensed upon 
that occasion, and which, according to the command of the 
Lord Jesus Christ, ought always to have been dispensed at 
that holy meal. 

Immanuel, before whose All-seeing eye, time past, present, 
and future, has always been disclosed, was perfectly aware, 
from all eternity, of the errors which would creep into the 
church, in regard to wine ; and, therefore, He guarded this 
precious ordinance with peculiar care against misconception, 
and false interpretation. But that even essential truth may 
long remain in hopeless darkness, is well known to all who 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 151 

have read the history of the church, and remember the gloomy 
ages which preceded the dawn of the Reformation. It need 
not excite surprise then, that that which, although highly 
important, cannot be deemed absolutely indispensable to salva- 
tion, was permitted for a long season to be hidden from the 
church of Christ, and that a prominent error occupied its 
place, or in other words, that intoxicating wine, has for many 
ages supplanted " the unfermented fruit of the vine," in the 
belief and usage of almost, if not all Christian churches. One 
opposed to the doctrine we advocate, might say, because Jesus 
used and commanded intoxicating wine to be used at His 
supper, it is right for His followers to do the same. We admit 
the conclusion if the premises can be proved ; but, as it cannot 
be proved that He used intoxicating wine, and has been proved 
that He used and commanded to be used, u unfermented fruit 
of the vine," at His supper, we are entitled to take the words 
out of our opponent's mouth, and say, because our Saviour 
used unfermented, unintoxicating wine at His supper, therefore 
we ought to do the same. But, as he goes farther and argues 
that, because Jesus used intoxicating wine at His sacred meal, 
therefore he and his party may lawfully use it at their meals ; 
we, on the other hand, have an equal right to argue that, as 
Jesus has been proved to have used unfermented, unintoxicating 
wine at the institution of His supper, therefore we may lawfully 
use it at our ordinary meals. But, moreover, if by this affirma- 
tive command, to use unintoxicating wine, we are to under- 
stand by implication, a negative command also, (according to 
the canon of interpretation: "Negatives include affirmatives, 
and affirmatives include negatives,") not to use intoxicating 
wine at his supper, which cannot be contradicted, (bearing in 
mind the many instances pointed out, of the Scriptural prohibi- 
tion of such wine,) will it not appear obvious that the Saviour's 
appointment of unfermented fruit of the vine (or wine,) to sym- 
bolize His blood, is to be taken as a solemn ratification and 



152 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

enforcement of the moral law against the use of intoxicating wine 
in every instance, in man's normal state of health ? When this 
great truth shall be universally received, as no doubt it will, 
we believe that the recognition of this Divine appointment of 
"the unfermented fruit of the vine" to be the symbol of our 
Redeemer's blood, will be followed by the blessed consequences 
to be traced to such a ratification. And, as "every good and 
every perfect gift cometh down from the Father of lights, with 
whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning," we can 
see no just reason why these blessed consequences should not be 
traced up to Jesus as their source, and therefore why the honor 
should not be given to Him, of purposing that these effects should 
follow, in the manner mentioned above. 

If our opponent could show, by irrefragable arguments and 
indubitable facts, (such as we have used concerning alcoholic 
wine,) that non-alcoholic, non-intoxicating wine is specially 
forbidden, in different parts of Scripture, as an article not fit 
for man's use, in any quantity, in his normal state of health, 
(in addition to proving that alcoholic wine is commanded to be 
used by the Lord, as the symbol of His blood, at His supper,) 
we should certainly allow him the benefit of these truths to 
the fullest extent, in establishing and endorsing all that had 
been written upon the subjects of fermented and unfermented 
wine in the Bible, previous to the solemn hour when Jesus 
appointed (by assumption,) the fermented wine to be the per- 
petual symbol of His blood, — because of that being the last 
great public testifying act of the Redeemer, prior to the cruci- 
fixion, — intended to commemorate it forever ! "We only claim 
the same privilege. The Devil has not been slow to avail 
himself of the advantages to be derived from this argument. 
Although utterly false, that our Great High Priest made use 
of intoxicating wine as the symbol of His pure blood, or that 
in any of His laws, unfermented wine is prohibited; yet Satan 
has seduced Christians without number, into the belief of these 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 158 

things, as if they were truths established by the revealed word 
of Grod;and he has filled their mouths with arguments, based 
upon the false foundation, that alcoholic, intoxicating wine 
was appointed by their Lord to be the symbol of His blood, in 
favor of the use of the same kind of wine for the dietetic use 
of man. We do not find fault with their reasonings, but with 
the falsity of their premises, and therefore we do not see how 
they should censure our reasonings, or deny the justice of our 
conclusions, if they cannot annul our facts. This we give them 
an opportunity of doing, if they can. When the belief, that 
the Lord Jesus Christ instituted His sacred supper with alco- 
holic wine, has taken firm hold upon the mind as an established 
religious principle, (to gainsay which, a few years ago, would 
have subjected one to the charge of infidelity,) impressed upon 
the tender hearts of children by their parents and teachers, 
associated with the most important and sublime of all events, 
the death of the Son of God — sacramental occasions of high, 
spiritual enjoyment, and inspiring records of martyr heroism ; 
we need not wonder that it should be found difficult to dislodge 
such a welcome guest. But, although much may be said in 
extenuation of the guilt of some who were inveigled in this sin 
in times of ignorance, yet no such palliation can be pleaded in 
behalf of others, who, in these days of wide-spread, accurate, 
scientific, and statistical knowledge, and increased Scriptural 
information upon this subject, will not come to the light " lest 
their deeds should be reproved." 

Indeed, this vice (the use of intoxicating wine as the symbol 
of the Saviour's blood,) under the mask of virtue, although it 
may seem, or rather because it does seem venerable from hoary 
age, and honorable and sacred' from intimate alliance with the 
atoning sacrifice of Christ, is all the more to be repented of 
and deprecated, seeing it has usurped a pre-eminence and 
power in the hearts, homes, and sanctuaries of Christians, the 
consequences of which are daily becoming more and more 



154 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

appalling, disastrous, and heaven- daring ! Thus, truth is vili- 
fied, and error exalted. Thus evil is called good, and good 
evil ; darkness put for light, and light for darkness. 

According to this view, we can explain such gross perversions 
of texts of Scripture as the following: "Wine is a mocker, 
strong drink is raging:" (Prov. xx, i:) turned into, "Excess 
of wine is a mocker, — Excess of wine is raging." # " It is not 
for kings, Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, lest they 
drink and forget the law:" (Prov. xxxi, 4, 5:) thus para- 
phrased by that excellent, but in this instance, mistaken divine, 
Matthew Henry: "It is not for Christians to drink to excess, 
and to allow themselves in those riotings and revellings which 
even the sober heathen condemned and abhorred." t What is 
this but to add to, and take away from the Scriptures of Divine 
truth, and will not St. John's awful denunciation (Rev. xxii, 
19,) apply to such an act performed in the present day? 

So much for the sin of adopting a glaring falsehood as an 
article of religious belief; and yet these instances are only 
atoms in the mass of evils which, if we had time, we could 
trace up to this origin. Thus, it has been attempted to be 
shown, that the rejecters of the true doctrine respecting "the 
unfermented fruit of the vine," and the believers in the false 
doctrine, that Jesus instituted His supper with alcoholic, 
intoxicating wine, espouse the cause of Satan's error against 
God's truth, and what is far more terrible and lamentable, put 
lying words (ignorantly, we hope — innocently, we dare not 
say,) into the sinless lips of Him who came to destroy the 
works of the Devil! Are they not (in this respect,) "the 
children of the night, and of darkness:" (I Thess. v, 5.) 
"They grope in the dark, without light, and he maketh them 
.to stagger like a drunken man:" (Job xii, 25.) Do they not 

* A Lecture on the Harmony of Teetotalism. (Abridged.) By Dr. Lees: 
p. 10, &c. 

t The Communicant s Companion. By Rev. Matthew Henry: -p. 293. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 155 

substitute, for the steady, serene light of heaven, — capable of 
leading them into all truth, — the nickering glimmer produced 
by sparks of their own kindling, which only serve to draw them 
farther into the whirlpool of error. 

How different the case of those who believe that Jesus insti- 
stuted His sacred supper with "the unfermented fruit of the 
vine," as has (we trust,) been proved above, by ample Scripture 
testimony. They "stand up for Jesus " and His truth, in regard 
to temperance, against the Devil and his lies. Their eye (at 
least in this respect,) is single, and their whole body full of 
light. "They are the children of light, and the children of 
the day:'' (I Thess. v, 5.) Their firm belief of this one pre- 
cious guiding truth, like a pole-star, leads them safely into a 
wide, luminous region of kindred truths, before undiscovered 
by them, and indiscoverable by those who have no such steady, 
propitious light, to point their way to unexplored treasures. 
They are the children of wisdom, and protest against the devil- 
ish calumny, that the Lord Jesus Christ was, in the remotest 
sense, " a wine bibber ;" meaning a drinker, or encourager of 
those who drink alcoholic wine, while they witness to the truth 
that He was the uncompromising enemy thereof, as a beverage 
for man, having at His last supper, by His choice of " the pure 
blood of the grape," to be the symbol of His sin-atoning blood, 
given His Almighty "Fiat" to every interdict of "wine and 
strong drink," contained in the sacred volume. 

that the churches of Christ may soon be aroused from 
their lethargy, and lay hold of the truth as it is in Jesus, 
respecting temperance ! 

I am, my dear brother, 

Yours affectionately, 

JOHN MAIR. 



156 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 



LETTER XIX. 

My Dear Sir, 

Our Creator would have us, we apprehend, to 
use every good creature of His, which He has provided for 
nourishment or refreshment, not beyond the point where the 
natural desire ceases, (although at liberty to desist sooner.) 
This rule applies to the drinking of " the unfermented fruit of 
the vine," at the Lord's supper. Even the wholesome, nutri- 
tious juice of the grape, which has not undergone the process 
of the vinous fermentation, is not to be indulged in to excess 
at that ordinance. But while this is true, it is no less true, 
that no rigid, ascetic rule is laid down in Scripture, preventing 
the communicant at the Lord's table from doing more than 
slightly tasting or sipping of "the cup of blessing," as if it 
were possible that our generous Benefactor, who loved us, and 
gave Himself for us, could have laid any undue restraint upon 
us, in the use of that which He has set apart to be not only 
the symbol of His own precious blood, but also the lively 
emblem of the enjoyments of heaven. 

There is a vast difference between drinking to excess of a 
liquid good for man, and drinking without fear, of the same 
liquid. The devout communicant, at the Lord's supper, ought 
to be able to drink of the good wine, provided by the Master of 
the feast, without apprehension, that by taking a mouthful, 
more or less, he may do himself serious injury. But who can 
do this, who sits down at the communion table of almost any of 
the churches of the present day ? The first time the writer of 
these letters made up his mind that he could no longer drink 
of the noxious liquor dispensed at the Lord's supper, he felt an 
acrid, burning sensation in his throat, while the so-called wine 
was descending into his stomach, a similar feeling to which, he 
doubts not, has been experienced by others under similar cir- 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 157 

cumstances. A short time since, when he was discoursing with 
a dear friend, a highly esteemed clergyman, that humble disci- 
ple candidly owned, that he felt giddy after partaking of the 
sacramental wine at the communion of Christ's body and blood. 
Most probably he did not swallow more than a single mouthful. 
But if a mouthful would make him vertiginous, how much 
would it have required to make him drunk, in the common 
acceptation of that term ? Be it remembered he is a teetotaler, 
and as such he would not offer a drop of intoxicating wine to 
any one, except at the most solemn ordinance of the religion of 
Jesus, of which he is one of the stewards; but at that, he has 
no particular scruples hindering him from administering it, in 
token of love to his Saviour ! We do verily believe that that 
mouthful, small and insignificant as it might seem to a down- 
right toper, was a mouthful too much. In other words, that 
it was a violation of the law of nature and of revelation, which 
would have good Christians never to venture upon such a 
draught, or hand the intoxicating cup one to another at the 
Lord's supper. 

If this person had been previously a confirmed drunkard, 
and only recently reformed, is it not highly probable that this 
mouthful would have set him all agog, as soon as he left the 
sacred precincts, to obtain a larger quantity of the fiery pota- 
tion ? We cannot doubt that it would ; and, if this be true, 
do we not thence derive an irrefragable argument against the 
use of alcoholic, and otherwise drugged wine, at the Lord's 
supper ? For it is to be feared, there are individuals in almost 
every congregation who have so keen an appetite for alcoholic 
liquors, as only to require to have it set on edge by the com- 
munion cup, and who, from their participation of it, may have 
to date their relapse into a desperate career of " rioting and 
drunkenness !" 

You spake so forcibly and pointedly upon this subject, many 

years- ago, that we cannot refrain from introducing here, your 
14 



158 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

admirable remarks. Would that they had been attended to by 
all Christian ministers and congregations : "It may be said by 
some, if these men be Christians, they will not fall before so 
slight a temptation." If I understand this objection, it is the 
same that might be urged against all exhortation. Paul, I 
think, viewed the question in a different light : " Through thy 
knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died ?" 
This objection assumes another, and more general form, when 
it is said, a man who has not resolution enough to stand such a 
temptation, is not to be relied upon ; let us ask what kind of 
resolution the reformed inebriate is expected to have ? Moral, 
of course ; but is this sufficient to reach the cruel and insatiate 
antagonist he has to contend against ? His enemy is a physical 
evil, which has produced a moral debility, — so that upon the 
supposition that his moral resolution is as firm as any man's 
who sits down at the table with him, his physical nature is 
not equal to the same encounter ; and, till this defect in his 
bodily frame is removed, neither his spiritual nor mortal nature 
has strength to resist. His case is exactly like those who 
are predisposed to certain diseases — moral resolution is not 
sufficient to prevent them. It may avail before going into the 
region of infection, but once there he must yield to their 
influence. 

"The drunkard's disease slumbers within him; the moment 
he comes within the influence of the cause which originated it, his 
longings begin, and in too many cases, his moral resolution fails. 
Drunkenness is, therefore, not like some other moral evils, 
which have the seed in the thoughts, it exists immediately in 
the^s^, and through its influence holds the mind in subjection ; 
therefore to discipline the sensual nature by entire abstinence 
from all that would in the least degree provoke the return of 
the disease, is not only consistent with true religion, but sound 

philosophy My attention was forcibly called to 

this important subject, while I had charge of the Temperance 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 159 

Press at Albany, on the old ardent spirit pledge. A single 
year brought in reports of 5,000 drunkards reformed on that 
pledge, in the State of New York alone ; the next year full 
half of them were reported from the same sources, as having 
gone back to their old habits of intemperance, without break- 
ing their pledge; on fermented drinks, so that on that pledge 
we ceased to report the reformation of drunkards. 

" Many had joined churches, and went immediately from 
the alcoholic cup, received from the hands of the minister, to 
the grog-shop, and abandoned themselves to drunkenness, and 
became lost to their families, to themselves, and I fear, to 
heaven* Though the reformation on the wide scale we now 
see it, be new, the change for which we plead, and for the same 
reason, has been urged for a long time; but then it was to 
meet a single case here, and there, scattered over the country, 
but now their numbers can be counted by thousands. The 
church did not see any necessity for preparation to receive acces- 
sion to her ranks from this class ; but they have come, and she, 
is not ready to receive them,. They have come without her 
aid, and certainly with but slight invitation, if any. They 
have come by thousands, and may come by tens of thousands. 
They have left the temple of Satan — the grog-shops — have fled 
from alcohol, as from the face of the serpent ; and many of 
them are running to the church of the living Gocl for refuge ; 
and some of them are so much in earnest, that they are cling- 
ing to the horns of the altar; but let not the infidel hear it, — 
they meet even there, on the sacred altar of God, their terri- 
ble foe. 

" In examining both sides of the question, so 
pregnant with consequences to the reformed, converted drunk- 
ard, who can question what stand the church should take ? 
Now that the reformed drunkards are knocking at our church 
doors for admission, shall they be refused, unless they partake 



160 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

within its sacred precincts, the very substance that all their 
experience tells them will send them again back to drunken- 
ness. No, I cannot believe it. The church will, without 
delay, inquire into the question, and will, I have no doubt, 
offer not only to communicants generally, but to the converted 
drunkard, the fruit of the vine in which there is nothing to 
mock. Some suppose the agitation of this question will re-act 
disastrously upon the general cause of temperance ; to my 
mind, the reverse will be the result. Now the religious mind 
of the country is beginning to understand the question, and 
cannot be deceived as to the real point at issue. 

" This great and last principle, yet to be settled in the 
Temperance Reform, belongs legitimately to the church, not 
to temperance societies to settle ; and, should they unitedly 
resolve to use the 'fruit of the vine,' free from alcohol, they 
will set the key-stone in the arch of temperance, and by this 
simple act, do more for this great cause of benevolence, than 
all the efforts yet made. Let her expand her doors, and pro- 
claim to the world, that the drink of the drunkard is no 
longer tolerated within her tualls ; and the reformation will, 
in my judgment, then rush on to final triumph, with a 
rapidity that will astonish the world!" — The Enquirer: 
Letter viii. 

You wrote these prophetic words, which I have italicised, 
some eighteen years ago, and they are still prophetic. The 
church has not responded as you anticipated ere now, to your 
earnest expostulation. But the time no doubt will come, when 
she will be roused to her depths — when a movement from with- 
out if not from within, will cause her to banish alcohol forever 
from her sacred altars. 

For this long digression, we ought to apologize to you, but 
we are convinced that no apology will be required by the candid 
reader, for introducing words of so much weight, and arguments 
so invincible. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 161 

As the wine used at the Lord's supper, when first instituted 
by our Divine Redeemer, was unfermented and salutary, hav- 
ing been made (we trust,) abundantly plain in previous letters, 
we may safely conclude that He never intended to impose any 
needless restraint upon the partakers of it. His language 
accordingly was : " Drink ye all of it :" (without stated limita- 
tion :) (Matt, xxvi, 27.) 

' 'After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had 
supped, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood : this 
do ye, as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me : For as often 
as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's 
death till He come :" (I Cor. xi, 25, 26.) 

The last passage is considered generally, we believe, as an 
encouragement to frequent communion. But if it had been 
intoxicating wine which was enjoined, it would have been unsafe 
to use of it frequently, even in small quantities. How much 
more unsafe to drink of it freely and frequently. This is a 
corroborative evidence of the truth of our main position, that 
only unfermented wine can be lawfully used to commemorate 
the Lord's death. 

The language of Solomon may aptly be applied to those who 
drink with joyous liberty, of the pure blood of the grape, and 
might safely be put into the lips of Christ's ambassadors, at 
the communion of His body and blood : " Eat friends, drink, 
yea drink abundantly, beloved." Not so with regard to the 
vile, poisonous stuff which the communicant must force himself 
to drink, at that most sacred feast, (will he, nill he) or painful 
alternative, cease to be recognized as a member of Christ's 
visible church, and submit to be treated as ' ; a heathen man, 
and a publican." 

''Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having 
this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His ; and, let every 
one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity:" 
(II Tim. ii, 19.) 



162 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

" Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto 
you more than unto God, judge ye:" (The Acts iv, 19.) 

" We ought to obey God rather than men :" (The Acts v, 29.) 

We conclude, then, that the Divine Rule, relative to the 
quantity of "the unfermented fruit of the vine " to be used at 
the Lord's supper, as the symbol of Christ's sin-atoning blood, 
is indefinite and discretionary; or, in other words, that it is 
lawful for any Christian, who partakes of the Lord's supper, 
to drink without painful restraint, of that good creature of 
God, "the fruit of the vine," with thanksgiving up to the point 
enough, but not beyond it ; as he would drink of milk, or any 
other wholesome beverage, provided for his use by the all- wise 
and bountiful Creator, and gracious, self-sacrificing Redeemer. 

§ 3. When and how often, should the Lord's supper be 
administered ? Questions not positively resolved by apostolic 
precept, but aid afforded in answering them by apostolic example. 

May not the Lord's supper be justly considered as a most 
important part of the Lord's day ? Are they not both the 
sacred institutions of King Jesus, "the sinner's friend, though 
sin's eternal foe?" Are they not intended to show forth His 
praise, and to glorify the Triune Jehovah, by holy, heaven- 
appointed means ? Is it possible, that the Lord's day can be 
duly observed while the Lord's supper is neglected or dese- 
crated ? Does not the Lord's supper stand in the same relation 
to the Lord's day, as the principal meal (in the East, called 
supper,) does to ordinary days ? The common day would be 
incomplete without its chief meal. The body would become 
enfeebled for want of sufficient nourishment ; and so must the 
Lord's day be incomplete, and the soul of the Christian lan- 
guish and wax faint, if it be not accompanied with the Lord's 
supper ? If we neglect to break bread, and drink the cup of 
blessing every returning Lord's day, in remembrance of His 
death, how can we suitably and with full effect meditate upon 
His resurrection ? 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 163 

"This cup is the New Testament in my blood; this do in 
remembrance of me, For as often as ye eat this bread, and 
drink this cup, ye do shew (or, shew ye) the Lord's death till 
He come :" (I Cor. xi, 25, 26.) 

Can these emphatic, delightful words, mean less than that 
we should commemorate the Lord's death as often as we com- 
memorate His resurrection, that is, every Lord's day ? But 
how can we do this with " the wine wherein is excess," (the 
principle of moral and physical ruin— the enemy of God and 
man?) That the Lord's supper was observed every Lord's 
day, in apostolic times, seems hardly to admit of doubt. Thus 
it is said : " Upon the first day of the week, when the disciples 
came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them:" 
(Acts xx, 7.) 

This language would seem to convey the meaning that, " to 
break bread" was the chief object of the disciples in meeting 
together upon the Lord's day, and that the preaching was an 
adjunct to the ordinance, and not indispensable to its adminis- 
tration. 

" Breaking of bread," says Scott, "or commemorating the 
death of Christ in the Eucharist, was one chief end of their 
assembling. This ordinance seems constantly to have been 
observed every Lord's clay, and probably no professed Chris- 
tians absented themselves after they had been admitted into 
the church, unless they lay under some censure, or had some 
real hindrance." 

" Specially should this day (the Christian Sabbath,) be given 
to the commemorative feast. It was of old called ' the day of 
bread.' 

"Unworthy is our regard to it, low is our state of devotion, 
if its weekly repetition could pall. It is unimaginable that 
the early churches ever assembled, and this was not the act of 
their highest transport — that Christian strangers when they met, 
found not in this their familiar home feast, and endeared ban- 



164 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

quet — that martyrs ever took their last embrace of each other 
without being fortified by the holy signs. They died in a pro- 
fession of which they were not ashamed It was 

the nucleus of all worship and instruction. It gave significance 
and weight to all. The table of the Lord was ever spread. 
There the saints discerned the Lord's body, and had communion 
of His flesh and of His blood. It was the feast of charity. 
Blessed scenes ! Why past ye so soon away ? Why do not our 
hearts burn within us ? Why is not this the nerver- failing staff 
of our pilgrimage ! Why is not this the characteristic haunt of 
our discipleship ? It cannot return too frequently. 'As often 
as ye do it.' Do we not mock that word? — remember Christ 
Jesus. ' This is to be done in remembrance of Him ;' 'Ye do 
shew the Lord's death till He come.' ' Before our eyes He is 
evidently set forth crucified among us.' 

"The practice of the first churches should be revived; the 
Spirit who sat on them, might then visit us with their pente- 
cost." # 

What could be conceived more befitting the character and 
profession of the disciples of the Saviour of sinners, than when 
they had met together upon the Lord's day, that they should 
be occupied in commemorating that one sacrifice, in virtue of 
which, they were delivered from the guilt and bondage of sin, 
and made free with the liberty wherewith Christ maketh His 
people free. It is difficult for us to conceive how St. Paul, and 
his colleagues — all men of eminent piety — could have allowed 
a single Lord's day to pass over their heads, without commemo- 
rating Christ's dying love to their immortal souls, when we 
remember the persecutions which attended them; their ardent 
love to their once despised and crucified, but now risen and 
glorified Eedeemer ; their need of the use of every legitimate 
means for fanning the flame of devotion, upon the altar of their 
hearts ; the recent institution of this holy meal ; the duty of 

* The Christian Sabbath. By R. W. Hamilton, LL.D., D. D. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 165 

confessing their Lord and Master before men ; the distinctive 
character of this precious ordinance, and its admirable adapta- 
tion to subserve all these purposes ! 

Perhaps, then, we shall not greatly err, if we look upon this 
solemn rite as a test of genuine discipleship, no less than a 
bond of Christian union, not delivered to us by our gracious 
and merciful High Priest with rigid rules, defining with strict- 
ness the exact number of times when it shall be observed by 
us, as if we needed to be coerced into the performance of a duty 
so sweet and attractive ; but, bestowed upon us as a precious 
boon from heaven, which we shall be eager to partake of, as 
often as our hearts glow with fervent gratitude to Him "who 
loved us with an everlasting love, and gave Himself for us," 
when we meet together to worship Him, upon His holy day. 

In accordance with these sentiments, it would seem that the 
Lord's supper was administered in the church at Troas, customa- 
rily upon the Lord's day; and if so there, why not in all the 
assemblies of the saints, while yet their first love glowed with 
intense ardor in their hallowed bosoms ? 

The language used by the sacred historian Luke, who, him- 
self was present upon the occasion referred to, conveys the 
meaning that such was the case at least at Troas, for the 
adverb when, seems to include the preceding six days, upon 
which the people were engaged in their secular labors, and to 
contrast them with the first day of the week, set apart to the 
special service of God ; as much as to say, during the six days 
of lawful worldly occupation, there was no administration of 
the Lord's supper, or preaching of the word, to the whole body 
of the disciples taken in the aggregate, (although some of the 
affluent, or those laid aside by sickness, may have enjoyed the 
privilege,) but that on the sacred day of rest, " the first day of the 
week," on which Christ arose from the dead, all the Christians, 
without distinction of age, rank, or sex, should have the right 
and privilege of meeting together as " One in Him;" of having 



166 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

the Gospel preached ; and receiving the expressive memorials 
of Christ's body "broken, and blood shed for them. The punc- 
tuality then, with which the sacred supper is administered 
according to the Lord's appointment, upon His day, may very 
properly be viewed as a test of the spiritual-mindedness and 
love to Christ existing in a congregation; and, cceteris paribus, 
that may be considered the most prosperous church, which most 
frequently commemorates the Saviour's dying love, as He has 
commanded. How could this ordinance have been administered, 
or be administered with highly intoxicating liquor weekly, with- 
out extreme danger to reformed drunkards, (not to speak of 
others,) some of whom, it is to be presumed, are to be found 
in almost every congregation. 

What a libel it is upon Christianity and the purity of her 
institutions that, according to your statement, (Letter No. 15, 
Enquirer,) "The calculation is, that our churches consume 
about 80,000 gallons at the sacrament, yearly;" (about 20,000 
of pure alcohol.) " So long as the maker and vender can point 
to the church as a customer on so large a scale, they will throw 
back with contempt, the charge that they are engaged in an 
immoral trade." 

Let Christians hold down their heads with shame, and blush 
at the perusal of the following melancholy narratives from the 
eloquent pens of distinguished ministers of the Gospel ; but 
let not this content them — let them be stirred up to righteous 
indignation, and determined, heroic, persevering action against 
the arch-enemy of man, and the cruel, soul-and-body-destroy- 
ing poison, which has so long defiled the table of the Lord, as 
the root of most, if not all the evils which these writers so 
pathetically bemoan. 

"We are a reproach amongst the nations for our drunken^ 
ness ! Drink, the demon drink has carried its ravages to the 
East, and many of its victims, during the last three years, have 
been found floating in the Golden Horn, or killed in crowds. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 167 

"Nine-tenths of the people I have seen drunk, have been 
Englishmen, and in the space of two hours, I have seen thirty 
swaggering and swearing in the most crowded thoroughfares of 
Constantinople. Often have men of other nations cast it in 
my teeth seeking to commend the truth, and painfully I had to 
confess to the fact. 

"The influence upon others is ruinous, and it is a fact that 
probably within the last two years, one- third, yea more, of the 
cafes have been turned into drinking shops. Step by step the 
Gospel meets this dread foe, as the bitterest enemy to its 
triumph, and seeking to roll back the tide, is baffled in every 
effort. I appeal to every missionary in the East wherever I have 
been, if I state not the truth, and if it is not true, that 
through drink in the assemblies of worship scarcely an Eng- 
lishman is seen. If you demand facts, I can give you them 
from all quarters, and yet at home gentle songs are sung in 
favor of it. The church is silent, — Christians — many Chris- 
tians are asleep — Oh ! my country, my country, when shalt 
thou awake ? Thou nursest a viper in thy bosom which has 
blighted the joy of many a household, — which has made many 
a mother's heart lonely, and many a father sad, — which has 
filled the prisons, — which has spread ruin all around, and which, 
like a blasting curse, has gone with thy sons to other lands, to 
hinder the truth, and make the name of Christian abhorred." — 
British Messenger, April, 1857. 

Under the head of the " Doings of Drink," Dr. Guthrie, in 
a recent work, entitled " The City — its Sins and Sorrows," 
thus strongly writes about strong drink : "Not scared by the 
sanctity of the temple, it has defiled the pulpit. In all these 
particulars, I speak what I know. I have seen it cover with a 
cloud, or expose to deposition from the office and honors of the 
ministry no fewer than ten clergymen, with some of whom I 
have sat down at the table of the Lord, and all of whom I 
remember in the rank of acquaintances and friends." He thus 



168 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

delineates, "A minister at the Bar," with the pencil of a 
master: " Once a year, indeed, when church courts meet, our 
city may present a spectacle which fools may regard with 
indifference, but wise men with compassion and fear. A pale 
and haggard man, bearing the title of Reverend, stands at the 
bar of his church — not daring to look up, he stands there with 
his head buried in his hands, blushes on his face, his lips quiver- 
ing, and a hell raging, burning within him, as he thinks of 
home — a broken-hearted wife, and the little ones so soon to leave 
their dear, sweet home, to shelter their innocent heads, where 
best, all haggard and disgraced, they may. Oh ! my brother 
there, and oh ! my brother here, learn to watch and pray that 
ye enter not into temptation." 

Take along with these, a few scorching thoughts from the 
fervid breast of a brother divine, Mr. Arnot : " There is more 
in the public houses of Glasgow to stir the spirit of a minister, 
than all that Paul saw at Athens. In my ministry I meet tine 
horrid fruits of these whiskey shops. I see men and women 
perishing in their pit-falls. The number of the victims is so 
great, that it overwhelms me. My brain is burning — my heart 
is breaking. The church is asleep, and the world too, and they 
are hugging each other. I am weary with holding in, I must 
cry. I would rather be counted singular in the sight of men, 
than be unfaithful in the judgment of God." 

These are no common words, and of no common import. In 
characters of flame, they represent (at least to our mind,) the 
heart-rending state of God's church — nursing a viper in her 
bosom, "herself asleep, and the world too, hugging each 
other !" But have these excellent men, who uttered them, seen 
clearly what the viper is, which they have been nursing — or 
rather, have they realized its presence in the communion cup ? 
Is it merely to the indifference of many of the watchmen on 
Zion's walls, and members of the church, to the astounding 
disclosures daily made in the public prints, of the diabolical 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 169 

acts of drunkards ; and the desolations and the miseries, and 
broken hearts occasioned by them ; and the tardiness of Gov- 
ernment in applying some adequate remedy to the monster 
iniquity of Britain, — that they advert, in these soul-harrowing 
lamentations ; or, have they not a strange, undefined, corroding 
anxiety about something in the heart's core of the Church, to 
which they cannot give utterance, which is marring her useful- 
ness, and making her the butt of profane jest to her enemies ? 
We need not repeat what that is, — we trust we have made it 
sufficiently plain in the preceding pages. 

We wonder at the excesses of heathen nations — their besti- 
alities — their self immolations — the destruction of their widows 
and infants. We may cease to wonder ; their atrocious acts are 
part and parcel of their religion ; and may not the love of strong 
drink be justly said to be part and parcel of ours, as it has 
been perverted by injudicious, short-sighted, prejudiced friends, 
or cruel and invidious enemies — not as it is in the Bible, or as 
it proceeded pure, from its infinitely wise and holy Author. 
I am, my dear brother, 

Most affectionately yours, 

JOHN MAIB. 



LETTER XX. 

My Dear Sir, 

The reasons to be suggested for the Divine pre- 
ference given to " the unfermented fruit of the vine," above all 
other things, as the heaven-appointed symbol of the sin-aton- 
ing blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, at His supper, may be 
classified under the following heads : 

I. The natural fitness of " the fruit of the vine," to be the 
Divinely- appointed symbol of Christ's sin-atoning blood, to be 
used at His Supper. 

II. The natural fitness of " the fruit of the vine," to be the 
Divinely-appointed antidote of alcoholic intemperance. 

15 



170 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

III. The moral power of " the fruit of the vine," to be the 
antidote of alcoholic intemperance, from the man-perceived, 
heaven-revealed relation of that fruit to, and association with, 
the sin-atoning "blood of Immanuel — His preference to it, and 
appointment of it, to be the sole symbol of that blood, to be 
partaken of at His supper, in remembrance of Him. 

TV. The grand ultimate objects, to be subserved by the pre- 
ceding adaptations — " Glory to God in the highest, on earth 
peace, good will toward men." 

1st. The natural fitness of "the fruit of the vine" to be the 
Divinely- appointed symbol of Christ's sin-atoning blood, to be 
used at His supper. 

When Moses asked the Lord to show him His glory, the 
Lord said: "I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and 
I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee, and I will 
be gracious to whom I will be gracions, and will shew mercy on 
whom I will shew mercy. And He said, thou canst not see 
my face : for there shall no man see me and live :" (Ex. xxxiii, 
19, 20.) "No man hath seen God at any time; the only 
begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath 
declared Him:" (John i, 18.) 

All the teaching of the Bible is, by verbal or symbolic rep- 
resentation. We see the glory of God, not as it is essentially, 
but as it is reflected more or less vividly and distinctly in His 
word and works. It has been said by an author, whose name 
we do not recollect, that " The Gospel, together with the sacra- 
ments, is the only lawful, and the only lively picture of our 
Saviour." There is, then, a resemblance between the chief 
emblem or sign employed in the Lord's supper — "the fruit of 
the vine" and the blood which it represents — and the blessings 
which that blood has purchased ; and the more perfectly the 
good qualities of the sign are investigated and understood, the 
more aid will be afforded in apprehending and appreciating the 
excellencies of Immanuel. "An idea of a spiritual or immate- 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 171 

rial object, is not a thing to be learned at once, or grasped in a 
moment ; it must enter the mind in parts and pieces, and these 
parts or pieces make good their passage into the mind, under 
cover of some material fact, or what we call emblem. This fact 
is a thing already understood ; we keep it constantly before us ; 
we fix especially upon its prominent and characteristic points ; 
we revolve these day by day, — in them there seems to be wrapt 
up a principle, an idea different from them, yet connected with 
them, and with which, by reason of this connexion, we become 
familiar. As we contemplate this idea, it seems to disengage 
itself from its material enclosure, and rise upwards, and we 
find that in reality it forms part of a higher circle of truth, and 
belongs to that very region which we had deemed so entirely 
inaccessible. While we knew it only in connexion with the lower 
order of material facts, we had learned to think of it, and speak 
of it, by some name or sign. That name or sign we still retain, 
now that we have discovered that the suggested idea belongs to 
a higher and immaterial order of truths. This formation of 
ideas — this extraction of the spiritual from the material, is a 
process continually going on. It is the natural process in the 
mind of a being composed of soul and body, and surrounded 
on every side by the immaterial and material world. . . 
The process of disengaging the spiritual from the material 
element, the inaccessible from the accessible, the incomprehen- 
sible from the comprehensible, is nothing else than the way in 
which the mind advances in its onward progress from infancy. 
This is the way in which we learn and know, and expand in 
mind and soul. The spiritual is at first unintelligible to us ; we 
learn it by our observations upon the natural. The points 
where they meet, and come in contact with each other, the 
common principles, the common laws — these carefully pondered, 
gradually remove the indefiniteness of the spiritual, give them f 
shape and distinctness, till by degrees they become equally 
intelligible with their cognates, while at the same time nothing 



) h 



172 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

of their spirituality has been parted with. It is not that we 
have found a material element in the spiritual, but we have 
found a spiritual element in the material." * 

Let us endeavor to apply these principles to the case before us. 

1st. "The pure blood of the grape" nearly resembles the 
vivifying and nutritious sap, which is essential to the organiza- 
tion and growth of the vine, and may be viewed as standing in 
a similar relation to it, that the blood does to the life of man, 
or that the blood of Jesus, which was shed for "the sin of the 
world," did to Immanuel. In other words, in " the pure blood 
of the grape," or "fruit of the vine," viewed sacramentally, 
we have a vivid representation of the atonement of Christ, or 
"His obedience unto death in the legal room of sinners." 

2d. As the expressed and unfermented juice of the grape 
affords a delicious, nutritious and salutary drink, when mixed 
with water, (called " Sherbet " in the East,) so the blood of the 
Lamb of God (the atonement of Christ,) is of all blessings, 
the greatest possible, because when believed in, it delivers from 
the guilt, power and pollution of sin, and procures admission 
for the blood-bought, blood-washed soul, into the kingdom of 
heaven, and a right to all its immunities and privileges. This 
cannot be truly said of fermented, alcoholic, intoxicating wine, 
which has been so long unlawfully used, instead of " the pure 
blood of the grape," at the Lord's supper. 

3d. The shedding of the blood of Jesus or His sacrificial 
death, is aptly set forth by the pressure undergone by the 
grape, causing the juice to flow out, and His immutability and 
incorruptibility, by its being preserved (by Divine command- 
ment,) free from corruption or fermentation. A very different 
train of thought would naturally be suggested, by the presence 
of fermented wine at the Lord's table, (if the nature of the sym- 
bol were at all regarded as it ought to be ;) for what is ferment ? 

* Prophetical Land Marks. By the Rev. Horatius Bonar Kelso : p. 237. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 173 

According to Turner, "ferment, or yeast, is a substance in a 
state of putrefaction, the atoms of which are in continual 
motion." And what would such a figure applied to the soul 
imply, but dissolution of the moral principle — departure from 
original righteousness — in short, moral putrescence, or depra- 
vity ? The presence, then, at the Lord's table, of any sub- 
stance undergoing, or having undergone, such a change as that 
above described by a distinguished chemist, as a symbol of 
Christ's blood, could denote nothing less than the mutability 
and corruptibility, or in the language of Irving, the peccability 
of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is "the same yesterday, and 
to-day, and forever; holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from 
sinners ;" a doctrine utterly subversive of Christianity ! More- 
over, the selection of unfermented bread and wine, by our 
gracious and merciful High Priest, to be the symbols of His 
body broken, and blood shed for us, ought to excite in our 
minds, emotions of the warmest gratitude and love to Him, for 
giving us tokens of His love to us, so admirably fitted to convey 
correct views of His essential attributes, and for debarring us 
from the use of those counterfeit signs, which would, if at all 
attended to, produce the very opposite results, and cause us to 
harbor doubts of the perfect righteousness, immutability, and 
incorruptibility of His nature, and consequent misgivings as to 
His ability to save us from our sins — the amazing and glorious 
object He had in view in becoming " God manifest in the flesh." 
4th. As the judicious use of pure fruit of the vine, and 
pure bread, contributes largely to the formation of pure vital 
fluid, the great source from which all the constituent parts of 
the human body are derived, and by which it grows, waxes 
strong, and is perfected, so by the intelligent reception of a 
whole Christ, " whose body is meat indeed, and whose blood is 
drink indeed," — or by faith in Him, the soul of the sinner, is 
not only first justified, but subsequently sanctified, under the 
influence of His word and Spirit, and grows up to Him in all 



L 



174 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

things, at lengtli attaining by continual increments of grace 
"unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." 

To have any approach to a satisfactory idea of the absolute 
purity of the blood of Jesus, and its blessed, celestial, soul- 
saving influences, " the pure blood of the grape," in its purest 
possible state, must be multiplied to infinity, and viewed spiritu- 
ally. Should the impure, alcoholic wine, habitually used as the 
omblem of Christ's blood, at His supper, be similarly treated, 
of what would it convey the most vivid idea, if not of the most 
consummate torments of Hell ? 

II. The natural fitness of "fruit of the vine" to be the 
Divinely-appointed antidote of alcoholic intemperance. 

Personal observation, and the experience of others, as recorded 
in the annals of art or science, give no indication of the exist- 
ence of a principle in "the fruit of the vine," or unfermented 
grape-juice, which as vaccinia (cow pock,) prevents small pox, 
would exert a similar power in the prevention of drunkenness, 
and the thousands of ills proceeding from it. Many men have 
eaten abundantly of grapes, fresh and dried, but it has never 
been observed that they obtained immunity from drunkenness, 
as those who milked the cows, in Gloucestershire, affected with 
cow pock, and who were in consequence inoculated with its 
virus, did from small pox. 

All that the natural history of the grape teaches us is, that 
exquisitely formed air-proof bottles have been provided by the 
God of Nature, and a perfect mechanism, by means of which 
the gluten of the grape is prevented from coming in contact 
with the saccharine matter, while its texture remains entire, 
and that, therefore, while that state of things continues, the 
vinous fermentation, which requires the commingling of the 
two, cannot occur. # It has also been remarked, that the poison 

* Fabroni, to whose inquiries we owe the theory of vinification, stated that 
sugar and gluten existed in the grape separately, and occupying distinct 
organs, so that the spontaneous fermentation of this fruit is impossible ; but 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 175 

alcohol, is never generated in living structures, animal or vege- 
table — whence, in conjunction with the fact that that poison is 
generated by the vinous fermentation, it might have been infer- 
red, that it is the duty of man to use the fruit of the vine in its 
unfermented state only, as aliment or refreshment ; but no 
human sagacity could ever have discovered any peculiar adapta- 
tion in the fruit of the vine, fitting it to be the preventive of 
alcoholic intemperance. This must have been left to God only 
to reveal. 

Believe me, my dear brother, 

Yours affectionately, 

JOHN MAIK. 



letter xxi. 
My Dear Sir, 

We now solicit your attention to the Moral 
Power of u the fruit of the vine " to be the antidote of alco- 
holic intemperance, from the man-perceived, heaven-revealed 
relation of that fruit to, and association with, the sin-atoning 
blood of Immanuel — His preference to it, and appointment of 

that as soon as by any solution of continuity they are mixed, fermentation 
must commence. Accordingly an alcoholic odor may he perceived in those 
grapes that have been lacerated. Berzelius thought that the opinion of Fab- 
roni was disproved, by the fact of the necessity for the presence of oxygen in 
order to the production of fermentation, whence he concluded that the mani- 
festation of this action is due to the influence of the oxygen, and not to the 
mixture of the fermentable substance in the lacerated grape. I would observe 
on this point, that the grape contains a sufficient quantity of atmospheric air 
in its texture, to render that which it might receive being torn unnecessary ; 
so that if the two substances were mixed in its interior, it is certain that they 
would meet in all the conditions necessary to fermentation. The opinion of 
Fabroni must, therefore, be admitted. Moreover, it is completely confirmed 
by anatomico -chemical observations; for on subjecting the pulp of the grape 
to the action of sulphuric acid, under the microscope, I ascertained that the 
sugar is contained in the vessels which form the skeleton and its net -work, and 
that the acid, glutinous pulp does not contain a particle of it. — RaspaiVs 
Organic Chemistry.— [Translated by W. Henderson, M. D. : pp. 336-7.] 



176 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

it, to be the sole symbol of that blood, to be partaken of at 
His supper in remembrance of Him. 

Here we have 1st, The theme — the moral power of " the fruit 
of the vine" to be the antidote of alcholic intemperance; 2d, 
The source of that moral power — the man-perceived, heaven- 
revealed relation of the fruit of the vine to, and association 
with, the sin-atoning blood of Immanuel, &c. 

1st. The moral power of the fruit of the vine to be the 
antidote of alcoholic intemperance. It is moral power in the 
highest sense as an attribute of God, and exercised by Him 
that governs the Universe. All physical power is secondary 
and subservient to moral power. The more willingly we yield 
obedience to the rule of the uncreated, self-existent, immutable, 
infinitely-wise and holy God, the more we become assimilated 
in character to the Lord Jesus Christ, "who is the brightness 
of God's glory, and the express image of His person." 

But how can there be moral power in " the fruit of the vine," 
and how can it be the antidote of alcoholic intemperance, by 
means of that moral power claimed for it ? The moral power 
which fits " the fruit of the vine" to be the antidote of alco- 
holic intemperance, may be said to consist of all those gracious 
facts, associations and influences, which the Holy Spirit can 
cause to bear upon Christians out of the Holy Scriptures, in 
connexion with "the fruit of the vine," as the Divinely- 
appointed symbol of Christ's blood, — to induce them to abstain 
from drinking alcoholic liquors in their normal state of health. 
This antidote, like the holy anointing oil, (Exodus xxx. 22-25,) 
may therefore be viewed as consisting of several precious ingre- 
dients, to all of which, when compounded into one spiritual 
remedy, may be applied the distinctive appellation of "the 
fruit of the vine," i. e., sacramentally the blood of the Lamb 
of God, "which taketh away the sin of the world," — the great 
centre of holy attraction, around which they all coalesce, and 
from which they all derive their heavenly qualities. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 177 

All the commandments of God are " holy and just and 
good," and therefore equally binding upon man; but there are 
certain Divine precepts, which from the supreme dignity of the 
person with whom they are particularly identified, the trans- 
cendently important nature of the events with which they are 
associated, and the signally tender character of the emotions 
they are fitted to excite, seem to possess superior claims to the 
cordial submission of all the blood-bought children of God. 
This is the case with the precept we now refer to. When Jesus 
pronounced the emphatic words, "Drink ye all of it," He 
reclined at the Passover table, in the midst of His Apostles. 
He was about to lay down His life for " the sin of the world," 
and for their sins in particular, with one solitary exception, that 
of the traitor Judas, His love was stronger than death — - 
"many waters could not quench it," — nay all the combined 
powers of earth and hell could not make the slightest impres- 
sion upon it. He knew who was about to betray him — that it 
was one of the twelve. He knew that He should have to endure 
the impious jests of the infuriated populace, thirsting for His 
blood — that the dreadful agony of Gethsemane awaited Him, 
when " His sweat should be," as it were, " great drops of blood, 
falling down to the ground," — that many bulls should compass 
Him — yea, that "many bulls of Bashan should beset Him 
round," — that "He should be poured out like water, and all 
His bones be out of joint," — " His heart like wax be melted in 
the midst of His bowels," — "His strength be dried up like a 
potsherd — His tongue cleave to His jaws." Above all, He 
knew that ere the work which His Father had given Him to do, 
should be accomplished, (and after praying for His murder- 
ers,) He should exclaim, "It is finished!" The Father, 
"whose daily delight He was, from everlasting, from the 
beginning, or ever the earth was," who had said, " Let all 
the angels of God worship Him," would hide His face from 
Him, so that He should be constrained to cry from the depths 



178 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

of His mysterious humiliation, " My God, my God, why hast 
Thou forsaken Me ?" and yet having all of these and ten thou- 
sand other sources of indescribable, incomprehensible anguish 
of soul clearly spread out before His mental vision, resulting 
from the accumulated burden of a world's apostacy, guilt and 
ruin laid upon Him, He winced not, He faltered not — He forgot 
Himself that He might furnish a table for the consolation and 
benefit of those for whom He was about to "pour out His soul 
unto death ;" love unparalleled, Divine, past finding out ! It 
was on the eve preceding the completion of these heart-rending 
agonies, so soon to be endured upon the accursed tree, by 
Immanuel for sinful men, that He, with Divine dignity, sub- 
lime composure, and superhuman tenderness, instituted that 
supper, which was to be the sacred memorial of His death, till 
His second coming, " without sin unto salvation." Is it possible 
to conceive of events and sufferings more fraught with mighty 
import, more big with immortal consequences, more majestic in 
their character, more spirit-stirring, more heart-rending than 
these ? Where is the soul, then, that will not respond to the 
appeal from the Saviour's lips, "Drink ye all of it, for this 
is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for 
the remission of sins ?" It has been shown before, what " my 
blood" is, sacrament ally, viz: "the unfermented fruit of the 
vine," in its fluid form. What marvel then, that to this sacred 
liquid which Jesus Himself has called " my blood" an interest 
should attach, far surpassing that which belongs to any other 
substance, in the estimation of His true followers ? In it, all 
the diversified rays of stupendous love, infinite wisdom, and 
matchless condescension, are concentrated — mingled with all 
the temporal, spiritual and eternal blessings, purchased for His 
disciples by His sacrificial death: He being "the True Yine," 
it is the true blood of Himself "the true vine," and all alco- 
holic mixtures are base counterfeits. Where can such an enno- 
bling association as this be found, which has forever existed, 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 179 

and forever will exist between "the fruit of the vine," and 
" the blood of the Lamb?" Ransack all the repositories of 
science ; all the museums of art ; all the cabinets of antiquaries 
and men of taste ; search out all the splendid insignia of royalty, 
and all the badges of distinction which have been conferred 
upon men for their illustrious deeds, handed down from the 
remotest ages to the present time ; and out of all the vast col- 
lection select one, the most admired object, around which cluster 
the most endearing and cherished associations of power, wisdom 
and virtue, and it will be a child's toy — a mere bauble — a 
tawdry, worthless gewgaw — when compared with the precious, 
peerless fruit of the vine, destined of God the Father, from all 
eternity, to enrich "the Tree of Life" in Eden, before the 
Fall, to be the sacred symbol indissolubly associated with the 
sin-atoning blood of His only begotten Son in this apostate 
world, where He died for our salvation, at length to be exalted 
forever to adorn the banks of " the River of Life," in the New 
Jerusalem, and afford delicious refreshment to the redeemed 
in glory ! But some one may say, You are making too much 
of a mere material object, and run the risk of idolizing " the 
fruit of the vine." Not so ; we only go as far as the Spirit of 
Holy Writ authorizes us, and the epithets made use of there 
imply, that it has been designed and fitted by infinite wisdom 
and goodness, to be the mute and involuntary servant of God 
in working out a great temperance reformation, particularly 
wanted at this present time, which, when accomplished, will 
bring in a rich revenue of glory "unto Him that sitteth upon 
the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever !" There is a 
most essential and never-to-be-forgotten difference between an 
image devised and executed by man to represent God, contrary 
to His express commandment, and a symbol, designed, pre- 
pared and commanded by Him, to be used as a sacred memorial 
of Him. This is the character, and these are a few of the 
claims which " the fruit of the vine " has upon all true-hearted 



180 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

Christians, as the Divinely-planned, produced, and appointed 
emblem of Immanuel's blood: It is to be used as Jesus has 
commanded, at His supper, not that it may be honored or 
loved for its own sake, far less idolized, (as that arch-poison 
alcohol, which has usurped its place in the sanctuary, is so 
prone to be,) but that it may be highly esteemed for His sake 
who so signally distinguished it, by choosing it to be the sym- 
bol of His blood ; and may aid His faithful followers in honor- 
ing, loving, and glorifying Him, the God-man, who made use 
of it first for that purpose, and next (as we hope to be able 
to shttw,) for the purpose of drying up the flood of alcoholic 
intemperance ! 

We assume that, if " the fruit of the vine" had retained 
its place as the sole symbol of our Redeemer's sin-atoning 
blood, at His table, it would have greatly abated, if not 
entirely prevented, the desolating flood of alcoholic intempe- 
rance which has deluged the Christian church, and through it, 
much of the heathen world, since it was supplanted in the 
sanctuary by the intoxicating cup. And this we do, because 
we believe that while the fruit of the vine was faithfully being 
dispensed at the sacred feast, according to the master's pious 
injunction, the eye of the church would be kept in a sound 
state, by Him, and thus enabled to behold His character accu- 
rately reflected in it, (a mirror adapted by Him to that end,) 
as the uncompromising enemy of all " fleshly lusts (including 
drunkenness, its causes and effects,) which war against the 
soul." The arguments hitherto adduced by us, in support of 
the doctrine of "the fruit of the vine" being the Divinely- 
appointed antidote of alcoholic intemperance, are such as would 
naturally occur to a believer in that doctrine, who had never 
transgressed the law which commands the use of unfermented 
wine at the Lord's supper. But it is evident that the members 
of the church of Christ, in the present day, with few excep- 
tions, are very differently circumstanced — they have habitually 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 181 

broken that law, so explicitly laid down in the Gospels of 
Matthew, Mark and Luke, by making use of intoxicating, alco- 
holic, and often otherwise impoisoned wine, at the Lord's 
supper; and, therefore, ought to be addressed as persons, of 
whom is required Godly sorrow for that sin, and "true repent- 
ance unto salvation not to be repented of." Thus we are 
called to view our theme from a different stand-point, and as he 
who has been in the habit of yielding to any grievous, besetting 
sin, deeming it a light matter, when awakened to a sense of 
his guilt and danger, can no longer treat it as a little one, but as 
an aggravated offence against God, and against mankind, so, we 
hope, that the sin of habitually using intoxicating wine at the 
Lord's supper may be brought home to many hearts and con- 
sciences, "in demonstration of the Spirit," and "in the power 
of God," so as to lead not only to the abandonment of the 
baleful potion at the feast of peace and love, but to such a 
reactionary hatred of it, as will cause it to be branded with 
infamy and driven from the haunts of civilization, except in 
cases where, like opium and other narcotic drugs, it may be 
legitimately used in salutary medicinal prescriptions. A few 
of the ingredients of this antidote may here be touched upon, 
beginning with the bitter ones, and the first person singular 
. may be used, for the sake of greater point and vividness. 
"Godly sorrow" first presents itself, for my having so long 
prostituted the Lord's supper to base purposes ; the dishonor of 
my Saviour's hallowed name ; and the physical, intellectual and 
moral bane of those who looked to me for an example ; by my 
use of a vile, filthy mixture of poisonous and disgusting matters 
to symbolize His most pure and precious blood, at the most 
sacred of all His ordinances. Next comes abhorrence of Satan, 
for tempting me to commit this grievous sin ; and of myself, for 
so long listening to his false and blasphemous insinuations ; and 
yielding to his seductive voice, in drinking of that soul-and- 
1 ody-destroying, alcoholic poison ; believing it possible, that 
16 



182 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

such could be the emblem chosen by my Saviour as the pledge 
and proof of His everlasting love ! Gratitude to my Saviour 
— God — should be pre-eminently mine, for emancipating me 
by His word and Spirit, from the galling bondage in which I 
was so long enthralled, while I received at second hand such 
false representations of "the cup of the Lord," " the cup of 
salvation," and " of blessing ;" and neglected, diligently and 
prayerfully to "search the Scriptures" for myself, to see 
"whether those things were so." And now, let me rejoice 
with all my heart, that God has been graciously pleased to 
bestow upon me, and other poor sinners, such a sweet and 
blessed cup, not only not corrupted and poisonous, (a thing 
indeed impossible, though so long believed,) but refreshing and 
nutritious to drink, in remembrance of Him ; instead of alco- 
holic wine, which is "a mocker," or "strong drink," which 
"is raging," like their progenitor and patron, "the father of 
lies," and "murderer from the beginning!" 

The arch enemy of mankind — the Devil — succeeded in tempt- 
ing Adam and Eve by one kind of lie — in making them believe, 
that by eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good 
and evil, their minds would be enlarged and enlightened ; and, 
that it was unkind in God to keep it from them. Having added 
to his craftiness by experience, and failed in his attempts to 
ensnare the Saviour of the world — nourishing a bitter, ranco- 
rous hatred against Him, for befriending mankind — he deter- 
mined to do his utmost to ruin them by a new device, and has 
succeeded so far, marvellously in the attempt, by inducing so 
many to believe that their blessed Lord bequeathed to them as 
a good thing, that intoxicating cup, which the foul fiend well 
knew, He, as the sin-hating God, had not only not enjoined, 
but in the most express terms, denounced and prohibited. The 
more I meditate on my Lord's goodness in identifying Himself 
with the vine and its fruit for my sake, and that of other hell- 
deserving sinners, the more may I adore and love Him. " The 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 183 

fruit of the vine," which Jesus Himself calls " my blood" with 
all its sin-cleansing, heart-cheering, hope-inspiring associations, 
is a rallying point to which Christians may always resort ; a 
strong-hold in which they may always find shelter and protec- 
tion from the enemy ; a watch-word by which they may always 
communicate and re-assure each other, when taunted or tempted 
by Satan ; a characteristic, holy badge, by which the church 
militant ought ever to be conspicuously distinguished from the 
armies of the aliens ; they finding their chief sensual gratifica- 
tion in quaffing "the wine wherein is excess," (awTta — 
destruction,) u the cup of Devils;" while the true disciples 
of the Lord drink with exquisite delight and thankfulness " of 
the fruit of the vine," " the cup of the Lord," " the cup of 
salvation !" 

We have only noted a few of the emotions and reflections 
which might probably arise in the mind of a penitent communi- 
cant, at the Lord's table, upon first drinking of u the unfer- 
mented fruit of the vine," of the existence of which, and the 
duty of using it, he had so long remained in profound igno- 
rance. It must be evident to every intelligent, serious person, 
that there may be a great variety of " compunctious visitings," 
hallowed thoughts, tender sentiments of sacred love, bright 
anticipations of glory, sincere purposes of greater devotedness 
to God, and usefulness to man, springing up in the breasts of 
devout partakers of the Lord's supper, according to their 
diversified circumstances. But all who love the Lord Jesus 
Christ in sincerity, will find abundant materials for pious medi- 
tation, and all the sheep and lambs of the flock luxuriant pas- 
ture to feed upon, in the sufferings of Christ for them, and the 
blessedness to be revealed when He shall come "the second 
time in His own glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy 
angels," in connexion with "the fruit of the vine," the exquis- 
itely appropriate and beautiful emblem of His sin- cleansing 
blood. As it was the forbidden fruit, which was the instrument 



184 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

in the hands of Satan of tempting our first parents to shake off 
their allegiance to God, so it is a forbidden fruit — that of alco- 
holic fermentation — " the cup of Devils," — which he has con- 
tinued to palm upon their deluded offspring — still turning them 
away from "the Father of Lights," (how many, the day of 
judgment alone can reveal,) they all the while — poor, silly, 
infatuated souls — dreaming that they are drinking of the cup 
of blessing, because the old Serpent, the liar from the begin- 
ning, gives to it that sacred name ; and not content with that, 
has even blasphemously dared to surname it by u a name which 
is above every name — that at the name of Jesus, every knee 
should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and 
things under the earth ; and every tongue confess that Jesus 
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." But the anti- 
dote of this deadly fruit is not confined to earth, (as has been 
repeatedly noticed,) it adorns also the paradise above, as it 
did aforetime the earthly paradise. " In the midst of the 
street of it, (the New Jerusalem,) and on either side of the 
river was the tree of life, which bare twelve fruit harvests, 
(Dr. M. Stuart,) yielding her fruit every month, and the leaves 
of the tree were for the healing of the nations." The leaves 
of the tree for the healing of the nations ? Yes, the fruit of 
the earthly vine scarce to be compared with the leaves of the 
heavenly vine. 

This fruit of the vine is like the hem of Christ's garment, 
which the woman touched in faith and had the issue of blood 
stanched, for which she had suffered many things of many 
physicians, for twelve long years, and spent all that she had, 
and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse : (Mark v, 
25-29.) In like manner, many since her day have fallen vic- 
tims to a more cruel disease, even drunkenness, " wasted their 
substance with riotous living," "suffered many things of many 
physicians" — found all their prescriptions of no value — and 
grew no better, but rather worse, under them — who, if with 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 185 

like precious faith to hers, they had partaken of "the fruit of 
the vine," at the Lord's supper, might have had the soul-inspir- 
ing, heart-cheering words, originally addressed to the poor 
woman with the issue of blood, applied to them by the Holy 
Spirit : " Thy faith hath made thee whole ; go in peace and be 
whole of thy plague:" (Mark v, 34.) Alas! alas! for centu- 
ries past, how few (if any,) have thus partaken in faith of " the 
fruit of the vine," at the table of the Lord ; we mean that 
faith, which sees in that cup the heaven-appointed antidote of 
alcoholic intemperance, or keeps its possessors from the use of 
alcoholic liquors ? 

Take the following illustration of this most consolatory truth : 
By the precious stone, the amethyst, we are to understand from 
its derivation, (a priv. : and fiedvo),) an antidote against drunk- 
enness.* Where do we find it in the New Testament? In 

* " Queen Elizabeth's Cup," adorned with amethysts and other precious 
stones, as described below, affords an interesting illustration of the virtues 
ascribed to the amethyst as the preventive of inebriety. 

This costly example of olden taste was exhibited at a Soiree given by Lord 
Albert Conyngham, on Wednesday, at the family mansion, in Hamilton -place. 
There were present the leading members of the British Archaeological Associa- 
tion, of which Lord Albert Conyngham is President. 

The Cup is in the possession of Colonel Gwatkin, whose mother (a niece of 
Sir Joshua Reynolds,) obtained it from her sister, who married the Marquis of 
Thomond, in whose family it had been preserved for a long period of time. The 
cup is of silver gilt; the rim around the cover is engraved with an arabesque, 
and bears traces of colored enamels and stones which have decorated the leaves 
and flowers of which it consists. This is the only piece of engraved work upon 
the cup ; for the cover, sides, and knobs are completely covered with precious 
stones, many hundreds in number, secured in separate cells, and ranged closely 
together, in rows, entirely round the vessel. These stones are amethysts of 
various tints, the interstices of the setting of each being filled with small tur- 
quoises, which are, in some instances, as minute as seed pearls, to allow of 
every part of the cup being incrusted with jewels. The knob on the top of the 
cover, and the three upon which it stands, are similarly covered with jewels. 
Those which form the feet unscrew; a hollow tube affixed to the bottom of the 
cup passes partially through each, and a screw, the head of which contains an 
amethyst, fits into this tube from beneath, and completely conceals the mode 



186 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

one place only, near the end of Revelation. In the last 
chapter but one, the 20th verse, it is spoken of as the last 
precious stone which garnishes the twelfth foundation of the 



QUEEN ELIZABETH'S CUP. 

of securing them. A false bottom of thin silver is held on by these screws, 
and covers a cypher; the letters being i( E. It.,'' conjoined in a scroll, charac- 
teristic of the reign of the Sovereign whose ownership has thus been carefully 
stamped upon it. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 187 

walls of the New Jerusalem ; and with what does it seem to be 
connected there, if not with the tree of life, (the vine as 
already explained,) described in the 2d verse of the following, 
the last chapter of the same book, as if to show that the "fruit 
of the tree of life," or of the vine, was possessed of power to 
prevent drunkenness, or was the antidote thereof ? Does not 
the amethyst's place, last of all the garnishings, also, seem to 
indicate, that the anti-alcoholic virtues of " the fruit of the 
vine " should not be discovered till far on in the history of the 
world ; and is there not something which seems to favor this 
idea, in the fact that in the list of graces of the Christian, the 
fruit of the Spirit, u temper -ance" comes last (Gal. v, 23,) (in 
opposition to " drunkenness, revellings and such like,") (Gal. 
v, 21;) doubtless including under it, abstinence from alcoholic, 
intoxicating drinks, as has been shown in many parts of these 
letters by proof of Holy Writ — if we have not been deceiving 
ourselves, " beating the air," and spending our strength for 
naught. And here it may not be uninteresting to remark, that 

The weight of the cup is considerable ; it holds about half a pint. It exhibits 
more barbaric magnificence than real taste., yet is characteristic of the time in 
which it was made. In the reign of Elizabeth, a superstitious belief in the 
hidden virtues of precious stones was current, which gave them a value inde- 
pendent of their rarity or beaut}? - . The amethyst in particular, was believed 
to possess the power of repelling intoxication, and it therefore became a fitting 
incrustation for the cup of a female sovereign ; hence this gift was liberally 
decorated with so valued a stone. 

The belief in the medical and magical virtues of precious stones was a doc- 
trine much inculcated by the Arabian naturalists, who believed that the ame- 
thyst prevented inebriation, and the turquoise strengthened the eyes, and was 
a remedy against poison; and it was from the East that we obtained our belief 
in their hidden efficacy. During the time of Elizabeth, it is not likely that 
much faith was placed in such mysticism ; but the affectation which character- 
ized her court might have induced the maker of this cup to resort to the quaint 
conceits of an older faith, to render his work the more acceptable. 

We have selected these interesting details from a paper by Mr. Fairholt, F. 
8. A., drawn up with his usual care, and printed in the number of the Journal 
just issued to the members of the British Archaeological Association. 



188 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

if our views be correct, of the relation of the gem " amethyst " 
to " the fruit of the vine," as explanatory of its secret virtues, 
the brilliant idea of our immortal bard Shakspeare — " Sermons 
in Stones,"— will be beautifully exemplified and realized. 
I am, my dear brother, 

Yours affectionately, 

JOHN MAIR. 



LETTER XXII. 

My Dear Sir, 

We have still another argument drawn from pro- 
phesy, tending to show that " the fruit of the vine " was 
designed by Jehovah to be the antidote of alcoholic intempe- 
rance. We refer to Isaiah lxv, 8, where it is written: "As 
the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, destroy it 
not for a blessing is in it ; so will I do for my servants' sakes, 
that I may not destroy them all." But previous to entering 
upon the examination of this passage, we may be permitted to 
say a few words as to the origin of this inquiry. 

Our first idea of an antidote to alcoholic intemperance, arose 
in this manner : On our voyage from Canada to England, with 
invalid soldiers, in the Resistance Troop Ship, in 1850, we fell 
in with a pamphlet bearing this title : "An Earnest Appeal on 
behalf of the Total Abstinence Reform ; addressed to Ministers 
of the Gospel, and other Religious Professors, on Scriptural 
Authority : by John Gr. Marshall, Esq., of Nova Scotia." 
The array of Scriptural evidence adduced by him, to show that 
there were two kinds of wine — one intoxicating, and the other 
not — recognized by the inspired writers — made a powerful 
impression on our mind, and we could not rest till we had 
investigated the subject, and drawn our conclusions fresh from 
the fountain-head of Divine truth. In the course of our 
inquiry, thoughts of the peculiar power of vaccinia, or the 
cow pock, in preventing small-pox. as discovered by Jenner, 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 189 

occurred to us, and somehow or other, blended themselves 
with ideas derived from the interesting narrative (Deut. xxxii, 
14-33,) concerning " the pure blood of the grape," the drink 
of God's people, and its opposite, "the cruel venom of asps," 
the drink of His enemies ; the one seeming to bear some 
analogy to "vaccinia," and the other to "variola," — or "the 
cow pock," and "small pox," — and it became our endeavor 
to seek for a stable foundation upon which to rest our hope 
that an analogous antidote of alcoholic intemperance might 
be discovered in the word of God. Sooner or later, while 
our mind was occupied with this train of ideas, the following 
remarkable passage (Isaiah lxv, 8,) attracted our attention : 
" Thus saith the Lord, as the new wine is found in the cluster, 
and (one, in italics omitted,) saith, destroy it not for a bless- 
ing (is) in it ; so will I do for my servants' sake, that I may 
not destroy them all." It seemed to us to cast a ray of light 
upon this obscure subject, and to intimate that a preventive of 
alcoholic intemperance might be discovered in the Bible. # 

In June, 1853, we committed the following remarks to paper : 
"The Devil must not have it all his own way; he has been 
tampering fearfully with the souls of men, in regard to the use 
of fermented, vinous potations. Can it be supposed that there 
is no equivalent on the side of holiness and virtue, to counter- 
balance 'the red wine,' which snares so many to their ruin? 

*The following motto to my Thesis, or i( Dissertatio Medica Inauguralis, 
De Peste Ejusque Relationibus Morbiclis," published at Edinburgh, in 1819, 
prior to my receiving my degree in Medicine, would have accorded with my 
state of mind at the time the above sentence was penned, omitting the author's 
name, in parenthesis, an eminent physician, and changing the words ff pesti- 
lentis," and ie naturae," also in parentheses — into inebriantis, and Scripturae 
Sacrae, respectively thus: " Si quis meam opinionem roget, dicam (cum Julio 
Palmario,) aliquod certum veneni (pestilentis) inebriantis, antidotum creatum 
quidem esse, sed illud hactenus in (naturae) Scripturae Sacrae sinu, occultum 
latuisse." (( If anyone ask my opinion, I will say, that some certain antidote 
of drunkenness has indeed been ordained, but still lies concealed in the bosom 
of Holy Scripture.'' 



r 



190 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

The 65 tli chapter of Isaiah, 8th verse, unfolds the mystery 
and makes it plain, that there is an equipoise, (we should have 
said, a preponderating power.) It exists in the blessed wine 
contained in the ripe grape before it is destroyed by fermenta- 
tion. The Devil says : ' Drink red wine, and every species of 
intoxicating drink, to the fill.' Solomon says: 'Look not 
thou upon the wine when it is red.' 'A greater than Solo- 
mon,' says: 'Drink ye all of the fruit of the vine.' This is 
the remedy which God has appointed, it seems to me, for innu- 
merable evils. There has been too violent a divorce of the 
soul from the body of man, and consequently of physical 
agencies operating upon the body, as if religion had nothing to 
do with the latter. Now there are physical agents which act 
primarily on the body, and which have a secondary influence 
upon the mind, and one of these is alcohol ; and, till its effects 
be estimated, and counteracted by wholesome discipline, a most 
important department of religion will remain uncultivated. 
No adequate means have been adopted to arrest the evils flowing 
from the use of intoxicating drinks, because the religious ele- 
ment has been ignored — ' the heavenly ' view of the earthly 
thing, for alcohol is of 'the earth, earthy,' and its demorali- 
zing effects can only be combated effectually, by the application 
of the heavenly restorative. It has upon it the. impress of 
Divinity. No human being could have discovered the plan, 
but when disclosed, it is seen to possess the very requisites for 
counteracting the effects of alcohol, which were desiderated, 
and which would have operated successfully long ago, if they 
had been carried into practice." 

Let us now endeavor to analyze the important passage, which 
appears to us distinctly to point to " the fruit of the vine," or 
as it is there termed, " the new wine in the cluster" as the 
Divinely-appointed antidote of alcoholic intemperance. 

" Thus saith the Lord, as the new wine is found in the clus- 
ter, and {one) saith destroy it not for a blessing (is) in it ; so 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 191 

will I do for my servants' sakes that I may not destroy them 
all." We have here : 

1st. The Lord's own statement respecting His own wine, 
u the new wine in the cluster," in air-proof bottles of His own 
construction — unfermeuted and unfer merit able, while these 
"bottles remain uninjured — the model wine, the nearer to which 
we can approach in our manufacture of wine, the nearer we 
shall approach to perfection. For equivalents, look to Canti- 
cles i, 2 : " Thy love is better than wine ;" v, 1 : "I am come 
into my garden, my sister, my spouse ; I have drunk my wine 
with my milk : eat, friends, drink ; yea, drink abundantly, 
beloved." Prov. ix, 1, 2, 5 : " Wisdom hath builded her house ; 
she hath hewn out her seven pillars ; she hath killed her beasts ; 
she hath mingled her wine. Come eat of my bread, and drink 
of the wine which I have mingled." And in the New Testa- 
ment for words of similar import: Matt, xxvi, 28, 29: "For 
this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many, 
for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not 
henceforth drink of this fruit of the vine until the day when I 
drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom;" reference 
here, being made to the fruit of the tree of life, which grows 
abundantly on each side of the river of the water of life, (as 
previously spoken of.) Similar references might be made to 
the other Evangelists who have treated of the Lord's supper, 
but what has been said may suffice to explain our meaning. 
LTpon the subject of communion wine, the learned author of 
" Tirosh Lo Yayin," thus expresses himself: "As it was the 
common practice to bring the bunches of grapes to the table,* 



* i( The two great sacraments of baptism and the Lord's supper are con- 
stantly represented and alluded to in the paintings of the catacombs, but no | 
others. Thus the administration of the Lord's supper is depicted by a sketch T* 
of seven, or in one instance twelve Apostles, sitting on one side a table, on ^ 
which is placed a dish containing loaves of bread, and grapes, sometimes a 
fish." — The Family Treasury : Part xiv, p. 178. 



192 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

) and then and there to squeeze them into a cup or drinking 

: vessel, is it not probable that Christ so used them on that occa- 

■ sion, (the Passover and the Lord's supper.) And might he not 

thus have spoken of the contents of the cup with reference 

to the bunch of grapes he had only the moment before been 

pressing?" * 

2d. We have here, the prayer of the new wine in the cluster 
personified, presented to its Creator, imploring that it may not 
be suffered to be destroyed, "and saith, destroy it not." It 
is said by a learned writer in the Abstinence Journal, for 
December, 1854, with reference to this passage: "The same 
word that is translated wine, occurs with this distinct explana- 
tion : ' Thus saith the Lord, as the wine is found in the cluster, 
and one saith, destroy (literally, ferment or corrupt,) it not for 
a blessing is in it.' " If this explanation be correct, the new 
wine views destruction and fermentation as synonymous, and 
deprecates both alike, and thus " Wisdom is justified of all her 
children." Are we not here taught a most useful lesson — 
even this, to avoid fermented, alcoholic, intoxicating wine, by 
the word of the Lord ? For was it not the Lord that dictated 
this prayer ? Surely, such a passage as this, (and it is by no 
means a solitary one having the same import, and bearing the 
same Divine impress,) ought to prove a stumbling-block in the 
way of those who will have it that alcoholic wine was prescribed 
by the immutably, eternally-holy Jehovah, (who gave utterance 
by His prophet, Isaiah, to these words,) to be the precious sym- 
bol of His blood, to be partaken of by all true communicants, 



"The fish has long been a significant emblem under Christianity. The 
Greek name 'cx@ v £ is composed of the first letters of the words Jesus Christ — - 
Son of God — Saviour : 

Ytjgovc; Xpiarog Qeov "Ywg ^orrjg. 11 
Biblical Cyclopcedia, by John Eadie, D.D. Article — Fish. 
Might not the fish here have been intended to be the emblem of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, as the bread, of His body, and the fruit of the vine, of His blood? 
*Tirosh Lo Yayin: p. 132. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 193 

at the Lord's supper till His second coming, without sin unto 
salvation. 

3d. We have here, the reason assigned for the new wine's 
prayer to its Creator and Preserver, to be kept from undergoing 
the vinous or alcoholic fermentation, "for a blessing in it ;■■'■' or 
a blessing exists in the unfermented wine, or will exist ; or does 
and will exist a twofold blessing. It is good for food and drink 
in its fresh state, but we apprehend, there is wrapt up in it mys- 
teriously, the blessing of the prevention of drunkenness — a 
far greater blessing than that depending on its nutritious quali- 
ties ! that all Christians had been as wise and pious as 
" the new wine in the cluster," and had always offered up the 
same prayer, what a different world, sin-stricken though it be, 
would this world have proved ! How much of peace, joy, 
health, wealth, soundness of mind and body — in short, of 
physical and spiritual prosperity might thus have been secured, 
now lost forever to the fallen race of Adam ! 

"What do you suppose is the spiritual blessing to be found in 
"the new wine in the cluster?" It is written, Judges ix, 13 : 
"And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine (tirosh, 
the produce of the vine, — Stubbin,) ivhich cheereth God and 
man, and go to be promoted over the trees ?" Where can any- 
thing be plainer than that this language of the dumb vine, like 
that of the dumb ass, is intended to teach man a lesson not to 
kick against God or His anointed \ (Numbers xxii, 22, 23.) 
Does it not correspond with the very word of Immanuel, when 
at His last supper with His disciples, before His crucifixion, 
He thus addressed them: "Drink ye all of it, for this is my 
blood of the New Testament, which is shed for you for the 
remission of sins : But I say unto you, I will not drink hence- 
forth of this fruit of the vine, until the day when I drink it 
new with you in my Father's Kingdom:" (Matt, xxvi, 27-29.) 
The fruit of the vine, and the produce of the vine, mentioned 
in these two passages, are the same thing ; and the very same 

n 



194 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

word, tirosh, used in Judges ix, 13, is that used in the portion 
of Scripture we are now considering. What, then, can be more 
evident than that it was for qualities possessed by this " fruit 
of the vine" in its natural state, z^fermented and wmntoxi- 
cating, that the Lord Jesus Christ selected it to be the sacred 
symbol of His blood. If so, does not the identity of language 
used by the inspired writers from whom we have quoted, (lite- 
rally of the terms in Judges and Isaiah, and substantially in 
Matthew,) indicate a common train of thought existing in their 
minds, or at least, a common blessing to which they pointed in 
connexion with the fruit of the vine, (though with ignorance of 
its nature on the part of the Old Testament prophets,) which 
would make it peculiarly precious to mankind. May not the 
blessing in the new wine, then, in the passage under considera- 
tion, have reference to that "which cheereth God and man," 
(Judges ix, 13,) and to that which may be the thing there 
referred to, the use of that " new wine," or " unfermented 
fruit of the vine" to represent the sin-atoning blood of the 
Redeemer? (Matt, xxvi, 27-29:) and is there not something 
corroborative of this idea in the following passage : (I Cor. x, 
16:) "The cup of blessing" (or the unfermented fruit of the 
vine — the cup standing for its contents — ) "which we bless," 
(the eucharistic or thank-offering which itself personified, thanks 
God for not permitting it to be fermented or turned into alco- 
holic, poisonous liquor, — we also thank God for, or acknowl- 
edge the goodness of God in giving it to us, to be the perpetual 
memorial of the unspeakable love of Jesus to our souls, in 
offering Himself up a sacrifice for us.) Referring to Judges ix, 
13, the learned and ingenious author of " Tirosh Lo Yayin," 
p. 49, says: "Had not the enemies of temperance contended 
so fiercely for the application of this passage to an inebriating 
wine, as the only species by which man could possibly be cheered, 
and the reckless blasphemy involved in the application of it, 
whether in that sense or any other, as a material food for an 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 195 

immaterial being, it would scarcely have been necessary to inti- 
mate that it could only be by way of sacrifice offered up with 
humility, sincerity and prayer, that it could have cheered the 
Almighty. " And is it not offered up as a sacrifice of thanks- 
giving at the Lord's supper, by every one who partakes thereof 
with " the unfermented fruit of the vine " — believing that it is 
the only Divinely-appointed symbol of the blood of Immanuel 
to be dispensed at that sacred feast ? How could the deadly 
poison alcohol, or any drink tinctured with it, be an acceptable 
thank-offering to the Holiest of all holy beings, who alone can 
make men holy ? Why might it not rationally be conjectured 
then, that "the new wine," in this petition, prayed that it 
might not be corrupted into alcoholic wine, but might be pre- 
served good and proper, in the fulness of time, to represent 
the blood of the Messiah, about to come into the world to save 
sinners, and to be the antidote of alcoholic intemperance, to 
obtain a far nobler and more illustrious position than that of 
"king over the trees," — to be inseparably identified with Him 
who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, — and the blessed 
instrument in His Almighty hand, of saving innumerable souls 
from perishing under the fearful delusion of alcoholic wine 
being the sacrificial emblem of His sin-atoning blood ? 

"I, Jesus, am the vine — of life, the only root, 
And those good works alone can shine, 
That from my branches shoot. 

My precious blood Divine, when I to death was trod, 
Produced so rich, so rare a wine, it cheers both man and God." 

— Delta. 

4th. We have here, the gracious promise of the Almighty 
to grant the prayer of the suppliant, "so will I do;" or, in 
other words, /will not destroy the new wine, or permit all of 
it to be fermented ; there shall be enough left to accomplish 
the special purpose I have determined upon, even the offering 
up of a suitable drink offering to me : (Joel ii, 14, compare 
i, 8-13.) This language (if our interpretation be correct,) 



196 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

would accurately correspond with the whole testimony of Holy 
Writ, which we have endeavored to show uniformly forbids the 
use of alcoholic liquors in man's normal state of health, and 
would imply that if "the new wine in the cluster" were 
destroyed, it would be an enemy of God and man, who would 
perpetrate the unlawful deed. Taking this view of the passage, 
we have italicised the words so and I, to signify that they are 
emphatical. Moreover, from the light which we now have, (if 
our views be at all in accordance with the mind of the Spirit,) 
we can see how the preservation of the "new wine in the 
cluster," to be an acceptable drink offering to God, as the 
symbol of the blood of His only begotten Son, to be drunk of 
at His supper, would have the effect, when thus offered up (at 
however distant a period,) of opening the eyes of the blind to 
the sin they had committed, in using alcoholic wine for sacred 
and secular purposes contrary to God's express commandment 
so often repeated in the oracles of Divine truth, — and prove 
the antidote of alcoholic intemperance. 

Moreover, may not prophetic allusion be made (Malachi i, 
6-8-14,) to the awful desecration of the Lord's supper which 
has gone on in the church for centuries past, and which has at 
length in our day reached the climax of profanation, in the sub- 
stitution of atrociously adulterated, impoisoned wine for "the 
unfermented fruit of the vine," the emblem chosen by our Lord 
to represent His precious blood ? The words are well worthy of 
being pondered by every lover of the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
are as follows : "A son honoreth his father, and a servant his 
master : if, then, I be a father, where is mine honor ? and if I be 
a master, where is my fear ? Saith the Lord of hosts unto you, 
priests that despise my name, and ye say, Wherein have we 
despised Thy name ? Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar ; 
and ye say, Wherein have we polluted Thee ? In that ye say, 
The table of the Lord is contemptible. (Mark the language, 
the table of the Lord. Is not this with reference to the abuse 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 197 

of the Lord's supper in future times ?) And if ye offer the 
blind for sacrifice, is it not evil ? And if ye offer the lame and 
sick, is it not evil ? Offer it now unto thy Governor, will he 
be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? Saith the Lord of 

hosts But cursed be the deceiver which hath in 

his flock a male, and voweth and sacrificeth unto the Lord a 
corrupt thing ; for I am a great King, Saith the Lord of hosts, 
and my name is dreadful among the heathen." Still more: 
May not the 11th verse of the same chapter refer to that blessed 
revival of true religion, which we believe will be consequent 
upon the return of the church to the use of "the unfermented 
fruit of the vine " at the Lord's supper ? The remarkable words 
are: " For from the rising of the sun, even unto the going 
down of the same, My name shall be great among the Gentiles : 
and in every place, incense shall be offered unto My name, and 
a pure offeri?ig : (not a corrupt and corrupting one, such as 
alcoholic wine is,) for My name shall be great among the 
heathen, Saith the Lord of hosts." 

5th. We have here, the persons for whose sakes the gracious 
promise was given: "for my servants' sakes;" or, in other 
words, for the benefit of the children of God. Here we have 
opening out to us an extensive and inviting field of inquiry — 
much too large — for us to do more than glance at. One tning 
appears to be implied in these words coupled with the context, 
"that I may not destroy them all," viz : that even God's own 
children, for whom Christ died, would be in imminent danger 
of making "shipwreck of faith and of a good conscience," 
from the reckless, anti- Scriptural use of " the wine, wherein is 
excess," as the symbol of Immanuel's blood, at His supper. 
So that, if possible, the very elect should be ruined by it, and 
cast away ! 

But let us come to close quarters with the enemy, and grapple 
resolutely with him, in the hope of slaying him, and cease to 
cast missiles at him from a distance, which may fall short of 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 



the mark. In simple language, let us endeavor as perspicuously 
and briefly as we can, to show under the following heads : 

1st. That the practice of the professing church of Christ, in 
making use of alcoholic wine as the symbol of His blood, at 
His supper, necessarily arising from the belief that it was 
appointed by Jesus, for that purpose, — is contrary to God's 
law, plainly set forth in many parts of Scripture, and in a variety 
of forms ; — that it must be followed by the belief of this other 
falsehood, that the Bible contains no law against the use of 
such alcoholic wine, or other alcoholic liquor, and that its 
use is placed under no other species of restraint, by Divine 
authority, than is imposed upon the use of wholesome food or 
drink ; while the twofold belief of these untruths affords a most 
powerful incentive to obedience to them, viz : the use of alco- 
holic liquors by all those so believing, and the ruin of soul and 
body in many. 

2d. That the belief of the church of Christ, founded upon 
the clearest Scriptural evidence, that "the unfermented fruit 
of the vine " was dispensed by the Lord Jesus at His supper, 
and commanded by Him to be used as the sole symbol of His 
blood, at that ordinance, till His second coming, — must neces- 
sarily lead to the exclusive use of the same there, by the 
persons so believing, and to the farther belief, founded upon 
equally valid Scriptural evidence, that the law of God forbids 
the use of alcoholic wine, and all other alcoholic liquors by 
man in his normal state of health ; while the twofold belief of 
these truths with the enjoined practice of the use of unfer- 
mented wine at the Lord's supper, will afford a most powerful 
stimulus to hearty obedience to the more comprehensive law 
of entire abstinence from alcoholic liquors, upon evangelical 
principles. 

1st. That the practice of the professing church of Christ, in 
making use of alcoholic wine as the symbol of His blood, at 
His supper, necessarily arising from the belief that it was 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 199 

appointed by Jesus, for that purpose, — is contrary to God's 
law plainly set forth in many parts of Scripture, and in a 
variety of forms, — that it must he followed by the belief of 
this other falsehood, that the Bible contains no law against the 
use of such alcoholic wine, or other alcoholic liquor, and that 
its use is placed under no other species of restraint, by Divine 
authority, than is imposed upon the use of wholesome food or 
drink ; while the twofold belief of these untruths affords a 
most powerful incentive to obedience to them, viz : the use of 
alcoholic liquors by all those so believing, and the ruin of soul 
and body in many, 

" If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that 
darkness:" (Matt, vi, 23.) "Woe unto them that call evil 
good, and good evil ; that put darkness for light, and light for 
darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" 
. Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and 
men of strength to mingle strong drink:" (Isaiah v, 20, 22.) 
If that which you believe to be true be a lie, how great is that 
lie. Theirs is a pitiable case who think they are walking wisely 
and well, in the light of God's countenance, when they are 
pursuing the path of lies and destruction according to the 
devices of the great adversary of souls — blinded by him at his 
will. Such are they who are "mighty to drink wine, and men 
of strength to mingle strong drink." But they did not all at 
once become so abandoned. They began with littles, and by 
degrees drank deeper and deeper, until alcohol at last became 
their idol and their destroyer. What was their first sally ? 
Some one or more of them may have acquired a liking for 
intoxicating wine, first at the Lord's supper. That "simple" 
youth may first have sipped it at the table of the Lord. No 
bad thing could be given him there. "It must be 'a good 
creature of God,' or it would not have been appointed by 
Jesus, to be the symbol — the representative of His precious, 
sin-atoning blood." Thus, the unsuspecting lad would naturally 



200 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

reason, (if he reasoned at all upon the matter, and did not 
merely partake of the poisoned chalice, as his fathers did before 
him, as a thing of course,) and thus he could see no harm, but 
rather good in tasting of the intoxicating cup upon such a 
sacred occasion, and if good there, how could it be bad else- 
where, if partaken of with thanksgiving. Thus he would be 
disposed to look upon "the wine when it is red — giving his 
color in the cup," as a blessing, rather than a curse. By and 
by he might become a slave to the habit of drinking intoxi- 
cating drinks, and at last fill a drunkard's grave. What a 
pity he did not rather partake of the sacred feast, of which 
Divine wisdom says : " Come eat of my bread, and drink of 
the wine which I have mingled:" (Prov. ix, 5;) of which 
" wine," the same Divine wisdom, even Jesus, in another place, 
has said: "Eat, friends, drink; yea, drink abundantly, 
beloved:" (Canticles v, 1 ;) and, in another still: "Drink ye 
all of it, for this is my blood of the New Testament, which is 
shed for many for the remission of sins :" (Matt, xxvi, 27, 28.) 
But, alas ! he had not been taught by his religious teachers, 
that there ever was such a wine as is here described — without 
any poison in it — and that it was the wine which was used by 
Immanuel, as the telling emblem of His pure blood, at His 
last supper ; the idea, probably, never entered into their minds 
that there ever was such an innocent wine, and so he was lost, 
because of the culpable ignorance of his instruct ers, upon a 
point which they ought to have made themselves acquainted 
with, and concerning which, they should have informed him. 
The fact (we believe,) is, that not in a solitary case, or tens, or 
hundreds — but in thousands, and tens of thousands of instances, 
the belief of the false doctrine, that the Lord Jesus Christ 
commanded alcoholic, intoxicating wine to be used at His 
supper, has proved ruinous to both soul and body, in time and 
in eternity. For how could it be otherwise ? Sincere belief 
in Jesus, as the wisest and best of beings, must be followed by 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 201 

obedience to His commandments under the conviction that they 
are certainly conducive to man's welfare, both here and here- 
after ; and the more sincere and unshaken the belief, the more 
prompt and unwavering will be the obedience ; so that thus, the 
best man will, (ceteris paribus,) be most likely to encounter 
the greatest danger, just because his strong faith prevents him 
from having any suspicion of imposture, and his tender con- 
science is implicitly submissive to his faith. But another 
element in the mischief must be mentioned here, although often 
noticed before. We mean the fact, that alcohol (the sine qua 
nan of communion wine,) is a most seductive and highly dan- 
gerous narcotic poison, which, besides having the approbation, 
(as the simple youth ignorantly believes) of his Lord and master 
on its side, has the strongest tendency to produce a continually 
increasing appetite for it, terminating in an irremediable corpo- 
real disease, added to the invincible mental habit which cannot 
be overcome — all the remonstrances of friends, and all the 
expostulations and prayers of ministers notwithstanding. And 
the almost universal belief, that Jesus used, and commanded to 
be used, intoxicating wine at His supper, is not productive of 
injury to the church only, ("the pillar and ground of the 
truth,") but to the world also, which is sure to follow her as a 
leader, in every respect agreeable when she inculcates a doc- 
trine, — and recommends it by a practice, — so pleasing to " the 
carnal mind," which "is enmity against God." 

In conclusion, here let it be remarked, that we ought not to be 
"ignorant of Satan's devices," — of his impostures, sophistries 
and lies ; — and that we ought ever to search the Scriptures to 
find out " what is truth," and not trust to the reports of others, 
however able or excellent; and, when we are sure we have 
found " the truth," never to sell it for anything the world can 
tempt us with. "Buy the truth and sell it not; also wisdom, 
instruction and understanding:" (Prov. xxiii, 23.) "Ye are 
of your father, the Devil, and the lusts of your father ye will 



202 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in 
the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh 
a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar and the father of 
it:" (John viii, 44.) 

2d. That the belief of the church of Christ of the truth, 
founded upon the clearest Scriptural evidence, that "unfer- 
mented fruit of the vine" was dispensed by the Lord Jesus 
Christ at His supper, and that it was commanded by Him to be 
used as the symbol of His blood, at that ordinance, till His 
second coming, — must necessarily lead to the exclusive use of 
the same, by the person so believing, and to the farther belief, 
founded upon equally valid Scripture evidence, that the law of 
God forbids the use of alcoholic wine, and all other alcoholie 
liquors, to man in his normal state of health ; while the two- 
fold belief of these truths (with their associated truths,) will 
afford a most powerful stimulus to hearty obedience, or entire 
abstinence from alcoholic liquors, upon evangelical principles. 

" Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth:" 
(John xvii, 17.) "It is invariably and eternally true, that the 
belief of truth will lead a man right, and secure his temporal 
and eternal interests." — [Philosophy of the Plan of Salvation, 
p. 99.) 

Time will not allow us to enter into a full consideration of 
the principles laid down under this head. It cannot but be 
evident, to all intelligent, reflecting, inquiring persons, that if 
the belief of lies — "according to the constitution of things, the 
character of God, and the nature of man "—must be wrong, 
and lead to wrong conduct, and prove injurious to those so 
believing; in like manner, the belief of truth must be right, 
and lead to right conduct, and prove beneficial to those who so 
believe, in relation to the things believed. 

As it is impossible for a believer in the doctrine that the 
Lord Jesus Christ dispensed alcoholic wine at the institution of 
His sacred supper, and commanded the same to be used in all 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 203 

future time, till His second coming, to disbelieve the correlated 
truth that there is no law of God which interdicts the use of 
alcoholic liquors upon all occasions, in man's normal state of 
health ; so it is impossible for a believer in the doctrine that 
the Lord Jesus Christ dispensed unfermented wine at His 
supper, and commanded it to be used at that ordinance in all 
future time, till His second coming, to disbelieve the correlated 
doctrine, that there is a law of God which interdicts the use of 
alcoholic liquors upon all occasions, in man's normal state of 
health. As soon, then, as an intelligent, conscientious Chris- 
tian man, upon Scripture testimony, carefully examined, shall 
have ascertained to the satisfaction of his judgment, that the 
Lord Jesus Christ dispensed only "unfermented fruit of the 
vine" at His supper, and commanded the same species of 
liquid to be used at all future celebrations of that feast, he 
will be at once led to drink of the same, if he have an opportu- 
nity, in fellowship with his brethren, in remembrance of His 
Lord's death for him, according to His commandment ; and the 
glaring inconsistency will strike him, of using wrcfermented, 
?mintoxicating wine only at that supper, and fermented, alco- 
holic, intoxicating wine at other meals, &c. ; and this feeling, 
confirmed and deepened by the remembrance of the appalling, 
ruinous effects of the use of alcoholic liquors, will force upon 
him the conviction that the Lord Jesus Christ, the only begot- 
ten Son of God, the greatest benefactor of the human race, 
and their Saviour from sin, could not have been propitious to 
it — but if not propitious to it, neither can the moral law, 
revealed by Him, in all its length, breadth, depth and spiritu- 
ality, and receiving from Him its highest sanctions, be favora- 
ble to it. Thus, he will be led to search the Scriptures, where 
he will find that his views, deduced from the benevolent char- 
acter of Immanuel, are fully borne out and amply confirmed 
by the moral law, which is unmistakably against it, as plainly 
declared in a variety of ways, and in the most positive terms, 



204 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

throughout the Old and New Testaments. Thus, it was the 
belief that Jesus commanded " unfermented fruit of the vine," 
or wine, to be used as the symbol of His blood, at His supper, 
that removed the veil from his eyes ; and, that the law of God 
against alcohol, before invisible, became luminous to his mental 
vision, — and what, then, could the practice of the Christian 
thus believing, (if consistent with his principles,) in future be, 
but total abstinence from alcoholic liquors, in his normal state 
of health — a doctrine which we have endeavored, in the course 
of these letters, to illustrate and confirm by sufficient Scriptu- 
ral data. 

But we all know that to be convinced of the existence of a 
law having Divine authority to make it binding upon us, is one 
thing, and to be obedient to that law from love to its author, is 
another and a very different thing. " For we know that the 
law is spiritual : but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that 
which I do, I allow not : for what I would, that do I not ; but 
what I hate, that I do." But if its author be a Divine and 
humane friend, above every friend ; if He died to save us from 
our sins ; if He has rescued us from the grasp of the roaring 
lion ; if He has wrought out for us an everlasting righteous- 
ness, and secured for us never ending felicity in heaven, by the 
everlasting covenant sealed with His blood, and attested by His 
word and Spirit, shall we not be constrained to love Him ? and 
if we love Him, shall we not make strenuous efforts, trusting 
in Divine grace, wisdom and strength, to keep this and all 
His other commandments. Jesus has done all this, and much 
more than tongue can tell, or the most perfect created intellect 
can comprehend, for us, that we might be saved. The claims 
of duty and gratitude, then, are irresistible, and must constrain 
us to obey the holy, just and good law, which forbids the use 
of alcoholic liquors whenever they can prove dishonoring to 
God, or hurtful to us or our fellow creatures — given to us by 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 205 

our precious heavenly Father, and ratified by the blood of His 
only begotten Son. 

It is here, as a resistless motive to obedience, that "the 
fruit of the vine," the everlasting symbol of the blood of the 
Lamb, with all its heaven-born associations, comes into practi- 
cal operation. 

We have, very imperfectly, endeavored to sketch some of the 
blessed truths which cluster round the fruit of the vine, and 
which cannot fail to act in the way above pointed out, upon 
every blood-bought soul, renewed by the Holy Spirit. 

It will at once be perceived, from the tenor of these letters, 
that "the truth" has an immense advantage over error; all 
the motives in the one case, being "pure, lovely, and of good 
report;" in the other, "earthly, sensual, devilish!" May all 
God's children, in His own good time, be led to drink of " the 
cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord." 
I am, dear sir, 

Yours most affectionately, 

JOHN MAIR. 



letter xxiii. 
My Dear Sir, 

The facts which have been stated by us, glorify 
God, as mirrors reflecting His image. They do this by glori- 
fying Jesus, primarily, and in glorifying the Son they must 
glorify the Father also. For thus saith Jesus: "I and my 
Father are one:" (John x, 30.) And in another place it is 
written: "Who being the brightness of His glory, and the 
express image of His person, and upholding all things by the 
word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, 
sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high :" (Heb. i, 
3.) If these facts (and evidences of design,) glorify God the 
Father, and God the Son, they must do so by the purpose of 
God, or by chance ; but not by chance — for if so, they would 
18 



206 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

be taken out of the sphere of God's providential government, 
which would be contrary to the truths revealed, Coloss. i, 16, 
17: " For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, 
and that are in earth, visible and invisible ; whether they be 
thrones, or dominions, gr principalities, or powers : all things 
were created by Him and for Him : and He is before all things, 
and by Him all things consist." And, Luke xii, 6, 7: "Are 
not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them 
is forgotten before God ? But even the very hairs of your head 
are all numbered. Fear not, therefore : ye are of more value 
than many sparrows." We confidently conclude, then, that 
the arrangements to which we have referred, were designed of 
God: 

1st. For His glory in the highest : 

2d. For peace on earth : 

3d. For good will toward men : 
and these two last objects, in subserviency to the paramount 
design: "the glory of God in the highest." 

1st. "The glory of God in the highest " 

The blood of Jesus, and the shedding thereof — our redemption 
price — are aptly set forth by "the pure blood of the grape," and 
its expression ; His incorruptibility and immutability, by its 
being preserved uncorrupted, or unfermented, by the positive 
command of God; — the soul's blessings of pardon and sanctifi- 
cation by its pleasant and nutritious qualities, in relation to 
the body : " For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink 
indeed:" (John vi, 55.) Thus, by all these adaptations, God 
the Father, and God the Son, are glorified. Moreover, they are 
glorified in a still more signal manner, by the exquisite, Divine 
adaptation of "the fruit of the vine" to be the antidote of 
alcoholic intemperance. The reverse of all this follows from 
the Church's generally received interpretation of the language 
used by our Lord, at the institution of His supper, — her under- 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 207 

standing of the nature of the symbol of His blood, — and her 
acts, proceeding from her doctrines in the celebration of that 
ordinance. These must be traced to an opposite source, not to 
Christ, but to Belial. 

2d. "Peace on earth" 

What object in nature is more pleasant to the eye, more 
agreeable to the taste, or more ready to recall to the imagination 
delightful pictures of peace and plenty, than a cluster of grapes 
fully ripe ? Alas ! that it should ever have been blended in 
thought with the cup of the drunkard, — as having any sympathy 
therewith, — to which it is diametrically opposed ! But let " the 
fruit of the vine " be viewed as the Divinely-appointed symbol 
of Immanuel's blood, and how much more lovely does it appear ? 
It acquires, by this association, a virtue not before possessed 
by it. It becomes pre-eminently the love-token of our Great 
High Priest, to those whom He purchased with His precious 
blood, and the happy emblem of peace restored between the 
offended Majesty of Heaven, and His apostate, rebellious crea- 
tures ! But again — when looked upon as the heaven-appointei 
antidote of alcoholic intemperance, what new powers of attrac- 
tion does it acquire, and what ineffable value attaches to it ! 

Let it be borne in mind, that the vine existed in Eden before 
the fall, as "the tree of life;" that it will nourish in the New 
Jerusalem forever, fresh and fair, — growing by "the river of 
the water of life," producing its fruit every month — indissolu- 
bly related to the Lamb, as it had been slain — "with leaves 
for the healing of the nations;" and this wondrous combina- 
tion of peaceful elements will be seen admirably to qualify it 
for diffusing peace and love amongst individuals, families and 
nations, emanating from the Prince of Peace ; where discord, 
hate, turmoil and war, — the infernal progeny of alcohol, and 
its sire, Satan, — were before rampant. For, is it not true, 
that alcohol has been one of the chief causes (if not the chief,) 



208 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

of broils, bruises, ruffianly assaults, inhuman barbarities, and 
unheard-of atrocities amongst those of the same kindred, as 
well as strangers ? What says Solomon ? " Who hath sorrow ? 
who hath contentions ? who hath babblings ? who hath wounds 
without cause ? They that tarry long at the wine : they that 
go to mix red wine." And what is the cure enjoined by him ? 
"Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth 
his color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright ; at the last 
it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder." But this 
was not sufficient to effect the desired object. A greater than 
Solomon, — even Jesus, the Saviour of sinners, — was required to 
discover and proclaim the sovereign remedy, needed to accom- 
plish the niigbty reformation ; and He has accomplished in a 
manner most simple, yet most sublime, His own stupendous 
design, in His ratification of all that is written in "the law 
and the prophets " against wine and strong drink, by His 
selection of "the fruit of the vine " to be the symbol of His 
own most precious sin-atoning blood, naturally associating 
itself with all that it is fitted to make the deepest, most tender 
and lasting impressions upon the human heart, and wean it for- 
ever from the love of " wine, wherein is excess," by the expul- 
sive power of a new affection ! 

3d. " Good will toward men" 

The last grand object to be subserved by the adaptations which 
we have had under review, is the "good will," "loving kind- 
ness," or "grace of Glod," in leading the disciples of our 
Lord, and others, totally to abandon alcoholic wine, — an end 
so difficult to be achieved, in consequence of its peculiar seduc- 
tive qualities, that (as we have endeavored to show, in previous 
communications,) extraordinary means have been used by the 
Almighty for its accomplishment ; means, which though hith- 
erto ineffectual, (because misunderstood and neglected,) are 
destined yet to prevail, when cordially embraced, because they 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 209 



are not human, but Divine; and, therefore, must be "mighty 
to the pulling down of strongholds." 

The sentiment we wish to convey, may be appropriately 
expressed in the following words of inspiration : " The grace 
of God that bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all men, teach- 
ing us that denying worldly lusts," (Titus ii, 11, 12,) (includ- 
ing liquor drinking and not excluding other unlawful gratifica- 
tions,) "we should live soberly," or deny ourselves the use of 
alcoholic, intoxicating drinks, &c, except for the legal purposes 
so often pointed out in preceding pages. Who will deny that 
such a blessed consummation as this, would be an illustrious 
triumph of Divine grace and truth, — a resurrection of "life 
from the dead," to thousands and tens of thousands of poor, 
infatuated human beings, now "taken captive by the Devil at 
his will," which would cause the angels in heaven to shout 
aloud for joy, and Satan with his rebel hosts in hell to scoff and 
shriek in most horrible anguish and despair, because deprived 
of the chief instrument of his rancorous hate and vengeance, 
coupled with the conviction that "the time" of his final doom 
"is at hand?" 

In conclusion, — what is to be done by "the church, the 
pillar and ground of the truth," in regard to anti-alcoholic 
temperance — to hasten on the millennium ? 

The vine, we have found, has spoken wisely and well, to 
mankind, upon more than one occasion, in the Old Testament : 
(Judges ix, 13 : Isaiah lxv, 8.) Might it not give good counsel 
in the present case, if its words and example were attentively 
pondered, and faithfully followed, by all who seek the glory of 
God and the good of mankind in the department of temperance ? 

Let us again turn our attention to Isaiah lxv, 8: "Thus 
saith the Lord," (so that we see the counsel cometh from the 
Supreme Law-giver, if we can only comprehend and apply it 
aright,) "As the new wine is found in the cluster, and saith, 
Destroy it not, for a blessing in it : so will I do for my servants' 



210 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

sakes, that I may not destroy them all;" showing the vine, or 
its ripe cluster, to be a believer in the virtues possessed by its 
fruit, as is plain from the petition it offers up to the Almighty, 
not to destroy it: "Destroy it not for a blessing in it;" or, do 
not let it be fermented. What, then, does the vine teach us, 
and all interested in the advancement of Christ's kingdom upon 
earth, and the removal of that great barrier to it, alcoholic 
intemperance, if not the following lessons ? 

1st. To believe in "the fruit of the vine" as a striking 
emblem appointed by our Lord to represent His blood — inclisso- 
lubly associated, and, if we may say so, identified with " the 
sufferings of Christ and the glory that shall follow," and thereby 
fitted to be the antidote of alcoholic intemperance. 

2d. To pray, as the vine does, to Jehovah, that "the new 
wine in the cluster" may not be fermented, or turned into a 
liquid containing alcoholic poison — the bane of human nature. 

3d. To interpret, as the vine does, the Holy Scriptures, in 
relation to intemperance, and temperance : "To the law and to 
the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it is 
because they have no light in them :" (Isaiah viii, 20 :) "Search 
the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and 
they are they which testify of me:" (John v, 39.) The vine 
invitingly says, by its beautiful pendent clusters: " Drink of 
me, I will refresh and nourish you ;" wisdom says : " Come eat 
of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled:" 
(Prov. ix, 5 ;) and Jesus says, once and again : "I have drunk 
my wine with my milk : Eat, friends, drink ; yea, drink 
abundantly, beloved :" (Canticles v, 1 :) " Drink ye all of it : 
For this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for 
many for the remission of sins:" (Matt, xxvi, 27, 28:) while 
our great adversary, the Devil, through his dupes, exclaims in 
frantic bacchanalian songs or in soft whispers, as may best suit 
his purpose : " ' Drink, friends, drink ; yea, drink abundantly, 
beloved;' not of 'the fruit of the vine.' which has no 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 211 

spirit in it, and cannot drive away dull care, — but of me, the 
quintessence of happiness — the sparkling juice of the grape, 
' when it giveth his color in the cup, when it moveth itself 
aright;' — a balm for every wound — a solace for every sorrow — 
in me you will find a panacea for all the ills that flesh is heir 
to — quaff of me till you glide gently and softly into an elysium 
of bliss !" But beware ! beware ! it is the voice of an arch 
impostor, loud or low. "Be not ignorant of his devices:" 
(II Cor. ii, 11 :) " Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you : 
Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you:" (James iv, 
7, 8.) 

4th. To trace out and fill up, as the vine would have it, the 
matchless moral portrait of the Lord Jesus Christ, especially 
that part of it (hitherto, so often, inaccurately depicted,) which 
represents His temperance at His supper, according to the 
vivid likeness given by the Holy Spirit, in the oracles of Divine 
truth, till the copy in all respects, both of outline and finishing, 
corresponds with the Divine original representation. 

5th. To act according to the example of the vine, in pre- 
serving its juice pure and nutritious for man's use, in the 
vessels prepared by our Heavenly Father for that purpose, 
manifestly teaching us to do in like manner, by the best chemi- 
cal and mechanical means we can devise and employ for that 
purpose ; — encouraged still more to do so, by the perfect exam- 
ple of our blessed Lord and Saviour, who, at the institution of 
His own supper, the night in which he was betrayed, "took 
bread and when He had given thanks, He brake it, and said, 
Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do 
in remembrance of me. After the same manner also, He took 
the cup, when He had supped, saying, This cup is the New 
Testament in my blood : this do ye, as often as ye drink it, in 
remembrance of me:" (I Cor. xi, 23, 24.) 

6th. To vindicate the character of Jesus, — ("Wisdom," sig- 
nifying Jesus, as understood by the best commentators — Prov. 



212 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

viii, 1 — and the vine being one of her progeny,) from the unjust 
aspersions cast upon it, according to the saying, " wisdom is 
justified of all her children:" (Luke vii, 35,) by opposing 
those who would destroy "the fruit of the vine," or basely 
insinuate, that Immanuel could have made use of "wine, 
wherein is excess," — to represent His blood,— have commanded 
it to be used for that purpose, — or could in any way, by His 
word and Spirit, have countenanced its unlawful employment. 
7th. To glorify God, as does the vine, by keeping His com- 
mandments. "Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear 
much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples :" (John xv, 8.) " Think 
not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets : I am 
not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, 
Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise 
pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever, therefore, 
shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach 
men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven : but 
whoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great 
in the kingdom of heaven:" (Matt. v. 17-19.) "Ye are my 
friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you:" (John xv, 14.) 
" Come eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have 
mingled:" (Prov. ix, 5.) "And as they did eat, Jesus took 
bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, 
Take, eat : this is my body. And He took the cup, and when 
He had given thanks, He gave it to them : and they all drank of 
it. And He said unto them, This is my blood of the New 
Testament, which is shed for many. Yerily I say unto you, I 
will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that 
I drink it new in the kingdom of God:" (Mark xiv, 22-25.) 



I began these letters some nineteen months ago, confident 
that the Bible must be the strong-hold of Christian temperance 
if ever it was to be established upon an immovable foundation ; 
and feeling that if the doctrine of total abstinence from alco- 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 213 

holic liquors, was part of the revelation of God to man, it 
ought no longer to be shrouded in darkness, or corrupted by 
tradition, but to be universally displayed in all its heavenly 
effulgence, so that the honor hitherto claimed by man, as if the 
discovery had originated with him, might be transferred to 
Jehovah, to whom alone it is due. 

The course of these letters has often been interrupted . by 
events, which, when they occurred, seemed untoward, but 
which, in the good providence of God, have ultimately proved 
propitious, by enabling me to review what I had written, — 
compare it again and again, with the sacred records, — supply 
defects, — and correct errors. I now commit them to your care, 
conscious of their numerous imperfections, — cordially thanking 
you, for having so patiently borne with me in all my short- 
comings, — for your prayers, and the kind, encouraging voice 
with which you have cheered me onward, so that although often 
faint, I have yet by the mercy of God, been enabled to pursue, 
and at length reach the goal. 

For whatever of error may be found in these pages, I only 
am responsible ; and, it is my sincere desire, that it all may be 
discovered, exposed, and rendered harmless. 

All the truth they contain, has emanated from the God of 
truth. May it be made effectual by the teaching of the Holy 
Spirit, to the propagation of anti-alcoholic temperance to earth's 
remotest bounds, to the praise of His glorious grace ! 
I am, my dear friend, 

Yours most affectionately, 

JOHN MAIR. 



ADDENDA. 



LETTER I. 

My Dear Friend, 

Having endeavored, to the best of my ability, 
to accomplish the work primarily laid out for me, I am still 
required to express my views upon certain important topics, 
which have been only incidentally and slightly, if at all, touched 
on, in preceding letters. But, before attempting this, let me 
say, how deeply I am indebted to the noble band of philanthro- 
pic men, who, many years before I gave my attention to the 
subject, had by their observations, experiments and researches, 
collected a vast amount of important facts regarding alcohol, 
and deduced valuable conclusions from them. That I may 
have drawn materials out of the general fund of temperance 
literature, in some instances without adequate acknowledgment, 
is possible, (if so, I now acknowledge the debt,) but I trust I 
have not injured any one by wilful trespass upon his domain. 

While I would render "honor to whom honor is due," always 
— no one will think ill of me for singling out the venerable Dr. 
Nott, as "worthy of double honor." It would be vain and 
presumptuous in me, to attempt a commendation of the works 
of one whose praise is in " all the churches," and whose name 
is identified with the temperance movement throughout the 
world. I leave this alone ; but, I may be permitted to indulge 
the pleasure of recording my admiration of the man, who 
uttered the following sentiment: " To think and speak, and 
act on his own responsibility, and not to do the bidding of 



216 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

another, is alike the privilege of a free man and a Christian ;" # 
and who, for the warning of youth, in all ages, has said: "A 
friend of mine gave me the number and the names of a social 
club of temperate drinkers, which once existed in Schenectady, 
and of which, when young, he himself was a member ; and I 
have remarked, how bereft of fortune, — how bereft of reputa- 
tion, — bereft of health, and sometimes even bereft of reason, 
they have descended, one after another, prematurely to the 
grave ; until at length, though not an old man, that friend 
alone remains, of all their number, to tell how he himself was 
rescued from a fate so terrible, by the timely and prophetic 
counsel of a pious mother. And I have marked too, how those 
pupils of my own, who, in despite of warning, and admonition, 
and entreaty, persisted in the use of intoxicating liquors, while 
at college, have, on entering the world, sunk into obscurity, and 
finally disappeared from among those rival actors, once their 
companions, rising into life ; and when searching out the cause, 
I have, full of anxiety, inquired after one and another, the 
same answer has been returned : ' He has become or gone a sot 
into the grave.' 

1 ' Among these cases of moral desolation, I remember one of 
peculiar aggravation : It was that of a gifted and aspiring 
individual, and a professed Christian. Crossed and humbled 
by domestic affliction, he sought, as many still seek, relief in 
alcohol. His friends foresaw the danger, and warned him of 
it ; that warning he derided ; he even denied the existence of a 
propensity, which, by indulgence, was soon thereafter rendered 
uncontrollable; when suddenly shrinking from the society of 
men, he shut himself up in his chamber, and endeavored to 
drown his cares in perpetual inebriation. His abused constitu- 
tion soon gave way, and the • death scene followed. But Oh ! 
what a death scene ! As if quickened by the presence of the 

*Dr. BTott's Lectures on Temperance: p. 16. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 217 

King of Terrors, and the proximity of the world of spirits, 
his reason suddenly lighted up, and all his suspended faculties 
returned in their strength. But they returned only to give 
to retribution a severer aspect, and render the final catas- 
trophe more instructive and more terrible. For though at 
intervals he seemed to pour his soul out in confession, and to 
implore forgiveness in the most thrilling accents, shame, re- 
morse and despair, were predominant : and there was at times 
an awfulness in the paroxysms of his agony, which no words 
can describe, and which can be realized only by those who 
witnessed it. 'There,' said he, pointing to his bottle and his 
glass, which he had caused to be placed beside his death-bed, 
' there is the cause of all my misery ; that cup is the cup of 
wretchedness ; and yet — fool that I have been ! — I have drank it, 
drank it voluntarily, even to its dregs. Oh ! tell those misera- 
ble men, once my companions, who dream of finding in inebria- 
tion, oblivion to their miseries ; as I have dreamed of this ; tell 
them, — but it were vain to tell them — Oh ! that they were 
present, that they might see, in me, the dreadful sequel, and 
witness in anticipation, the unutterable horrors of a drunk- 
ard's death.' Here his voice faltered — his eye fell upon the 
abhorred cup — and as his spirit fled, a curse, half articulated, 
died away upon his quivering lip ! ... This is not 

poetry, but history. Nor is this the whole. To say nothing 
of the untitled dead ; the heads of families ; the members of 
families, whose number has not been summed up; but — to say 
nothing of these — how many clergymen, how many physicians, 
how many jurists, in this and the neighboring cities, have, 
during the existing generation, fallen victims to the destroyer? 
Who, of my equals in age, does not remember those venerable 
men, all moderate drinkers, who once held in Albany, their 
meetings at noon-day ? And who does not remember, too, the 
results of those meetings ? — aye ! and of those other meetings, 

19 



218 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

held at a later hour by their sons — those young men of promise, 
that were, but are not ? 

"Over all classes, in that beloved city, intemperance hath 
cast its withering influence. Nor over these only. There is 
no city, or town, or hamlet, known to the speaker, where it is 
otherwise. Of all the avenues to death, the world over, this 
is the broadest, steepest, most frequented. The sword hath 
indeed slain its thousands, but alcohol its ten thousands !" 

Take another terrific sketch, from the Enquirer, (p. 144,) — 
enough to curdle one's heart's blood, to listen to its withering 
details: "Suddenly, Amos roused himself from one of his 
lethargic fits — 'the demons are after me,' cried he. 'There 
they are, grinning, grinning at me, and gnashing their teeth. 
I see their eyes of fire, and their horrible looking visages. 
They seek to chastise me with their red-hot, iron scourges. 
Oh ! how they scowl and hiss ! while a stream of livid fire 
issues from their mouths ! And now they rush toward me, — 
Away ! away ! I will not be taken and thrown among the loath- 
some, venomous reptiles, in that deep and dark pit ! Keep off ! 
I will not go with you !' 

" Saying this, and uttering screams of terror, this unhappy 
being, exerting a preternatural strength, burst from the bands 
which had confined him during the night, and, in spite of 
Samson's exertions, threw himself from his berth. He sprang 
to the forescuttle, and pushed the cook, who sought to prevent 
his leaving the forecastle, with violence against the bulkhead. 
He rushed up the ladder, and in a moment was upon deck, 
fully impressed with the idea that a legion of devils were in 
close pursuit, bent upon torturing him to death ! His appear- 
ance at that moment was singularly wild and terrific ; he was 
clad in no garment except a shirt ; his long, black hair hang in 
elf-locks on his shoulders ; his eyes were lighted up with the 

* Dr. Nott's Lectures: p. 27. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 219 

fires of insanity ; his teeth were firmly set, and his lips apart — 
exhibiting a ghastly grin ; his visage was haggard— -bearing the 
stamp of unutterable woe, — and his voice was clear and shrill, 
and unearthly, as he cried out : ' Oh, help me ! for God's sake 
help me ! Save me from these devils, who are clutching me ! 
Away — away — away ! Ah ! they have got me now. I feel 
their burning breath on my shoulders. Oh ! mother — mother 
— help your son ! I feel their talons buried in my throat, — 
and thus, and thus, I dash them to the earth !' Here the hap- 
less sailor escaped the hands of Mr. Culpepper and Ned Hop- 
kins, who had seized him as he was running aft, after having, 
with almost incredible agility, leaped over the windlass and fife- 
rail, He sprang upon the beak of the quarter-deck, and was 
instantly within the powerful grasp of Capt. Branchbill — but, 
notwithstanding his great strength, he was unable to arrest the 
career of the madman to destruction. Amos caught the cap- 
tain by the windpipe, and compressing it with all the fury of 
madness, threw him, as if he had been a dwarf, with tremen- 
dous force against the binnacle, and in a moment after, the 
maniac was standing alone on the taffrail, unincumbered and 
free. With one hand he pointed to the fathomless deep, which 
seemed to yawn beneath his feet, and he fiercely shook the 
other at his fancied pursuers, — exclaiming in a hollow but 
exulting tone : 'Accursed fiends ! I have escaped from your 
withering grasp. I am now beyond your reach, and I defy 
you! Ha! ha! ha!' And his maniac laugh swept over the 
face of the waters, and sent a chill to the bosom of his ship- 
mates. 

"A rush was made by the crew to the stern of the ship, to 
save the unhappy man from the fate which he involuntarily 
seemed to covet, — but ere a hand could be laid upon his person, 
he sprang high in the air, and alighted in the waters, over 
which the ship had just passed. He disappeared for a moment, 
beneath the surface, and then his head suddenly rose high up 



220 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

above the waves. The poor fellow uttered a shrill and piercing 
shriek — a shriek which seemed to be the very embodiment of 
horror — and which rang in the ears of his shipmates for days, 
and months, and years afterwards. He then sank beneath the 
waters, and was never seen again. 

" The main top-sail was laid aback, — the quarter boat was 
lowered and manned — Mr. Ringbolt himself sprang into the 
stern seats and seized the tiller, and the boat was shoved off 
and pulled in the direction of the ship's wake, where Amos 
was last seen, — but no trace of this miserable victim of intem- 
perance could be found. The waters which had parted to 
receive him, were now closed over him, and not a ripple 
remained to mark the spot. Such was the fate of Amos 
Chauncey." 

That any man of intelligence and education should have 
ventured to give such a definition as the following of temperate 
drinking, in the year 1843, may well excite astonishment ; but, 
that it should have proceeded from the lips of a man of science, 
and a physician, seems almost incomprehensible. Nevertheless, 
"According to Dr. Hun, the drinking just so much as promotes 
the comfort and well-being of an individual, at any particular 
time, of which each person must be his own judge, is temperate 
drinking ." "According to Dr. Sewall, the taking a glass of 
mint-sling in the morning, of toddy at night, or two or three 
glasses of Madeira at dinner, is in common parlance termed 
temperate drinking." According to the London press, the 
"Standard," " The taking of half a dozen glasses of wine, a 
glass of brandy and water, or two glasses of ale daily, is 
temperate drinking. Edward C. Delavan maintains, (as Dr. 
Hun remarks,) that there is no such thing as temperate 
drinking ; that alcohol, in all its forms, is poisonous ; that 
alcoholic drinks, when taken (in health,) are always injurious ; 
consequently, there can be no temperance in the use of these 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 221 

drinks (as a beverage in health,) any more than of arsenic; or, 
in other words, all use (as a beverage in health,) is abuse." # 

To this last summary of temperance truth, I heartily set my 
seal, and say amen ; and, if my labors are worth anything, in 
the cause to which I am so warmly attached, — and if I have 
not gone far astray, in my persevering efforts to find out the 
doctrine of the Holy Scriptures, in regard to alcoholic liquors, 
it corresponds with this summary. On the same subject, the 
Rev. Dr. Nott thus expresses himself: "The question, so far 
as good wine is concerned, is a question of expediency, and 
only of expediency, and abstinence becomes a duty only when 
indulgence would be injurious. But abstinence from bad wine, 
is always a duty." t 

I am, my dear friend, 

Yours most affectionately, 

JOHN MAIR. 



LETTER II. 

My Dear Friend, 

I concluded my last letter to you, with the 
following quotation from the Rev. President Nott's Lectures : 
"But abstinence from bad wine is always a duty." The 
question now arises : " What is good, and what is bad wine? 
not according to the judgment formed of wine, by the drinkers 
of Christendom, in the present day, but according to the Bible 
standard." 

The Greek and Latin writers made a clear distinction between 
intoxicating and unintoxicating wine, and much useful and 
interesting information upon this subject will be found in Dr. 
Nott's Fourth Lecture, in " Bacchus and anti-Bacchus," — in 
Dr. Lee's works, &c. But it is not my intention to enter upon 

* The Enquirer. Note by the Executive Committee : p. 144. 
t Dr. Nott's Lectures: p. 130. 



222 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

this theme. I confine myself to the Scriptural and physiologi- 
cal view of the question ; and, I adduce the following arguments, 
to show that there is a distinct line of demarcation drawn 
between "good and bad wine," (or wines which it is lawful and 
unlawful to use in man's normal state of health,) in the Bible ; 
and, that this line runs parallel with physiological and patholo- 
gical observations and experiments : 

I. The first and most direct, and decisive argument, is derived 
from the following passage, which has often been matter of 
reference, viz: " Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, 
when it giveth his color in the cup," &c. : (Prov. xxiii, 31,) — 
where the process of the vinous fermentation is accurately and 
beautifully described. This is one of the most express and 
comprehensive of all the statutes, against the use of intoxicating 
wine, to be found in the Bible ; and, I have surmised, that the 
teetotalism of modern times may have been unwittingly derived 
from it. 

II. The second argument is like the foregoing, and is drawn 
from the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, where the cele- 
bration of the Passover, and the institution of the Lord's 
supper, are recorded. I have shown, in the plainest manner, 
(Letter 18,) that only "unfermented things " were allowed to 
be made use of, upon both these occasions ; so that the employ- 
ment of unfermented things, including unfermented wine, by 
our Divine Redeemer, at His model supper, was a confirmation 
of the law previously enunciated by Solomon, limiting the use 
of wine to that which is unfermented and unintoxicating. 

The following arguments spring out of the laws of man's 
physical organization : 

III. The peculiar affinity or attraction of the brain for alco- 
hol, by which — first, the high intellectual and moral powers, — 
next, the motor and sensory, — and last of all, those essential 
to life, are injured or destroyed, (Letter 7;) the fact that a 
taste for weak alcoholic liquors gradually and insensibly leads 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 223 

to a desire for those containing larger, and still larger pro- 
portions of alcohol ; and the facts stated by Dr. Beaumont, from 
examination of the stomach of St. Martin, after indulgence in 
intoxicating liquors, thus: " On examining St. Martin's stom- 
ach, after he had been indulging freely in ardent spirits for 
several days, Dr. B. found its mucous membrane covered with 
ery thematic (inflammatory) and aphthous (ulcerous) patches, the 
secretions vitiated, and the gastric juice diminished in quantity, 
viscid and unhealthy ; although St. Martin still complained 
of nothing, not even of impaired appetite. . The 

free use of ardent spirits, wine, beer, or any intoxicating 
liquor, when continued for some days, has invariably pro- 
duced these morbid changes." # 

IV. The impossibility of laying down any other definite, 
intelligible rule, applicable in all cases, by which the evils 
arising from the use of "wine and strong drink" in man's 
normal state of health, could be prevented, — in consequence of 
the great diversity of constitutional peculiarities, age, climate, 
&c, (and the laws of alcohol adverted to in the last paragraph,) 
which would require corresponding diversities in the quantity 
and quality of the alcoholic liquor suited to each, (even upon 
the scripturally disproved hypothesis of the least quantity being 
ever safe and allowable,) and innumerable persons capable of 
adjusting the precise measure of liquor, and the exact propor- 
tion of alcohol adapted to the case of each individual. 

The following remarks of Mr. Goodell are to the point, and 
command my assent: " The ancient wine, which God explicitly 
pronounced ' a mocker,' contained no mixture of distilled spirits; 
for the art of distillation was unknown, till centuries after the 
pen of inspiration had penned the condemnation of that liquor. 
Where, then, is the line of demarkation? Do we not all know 
where it is ? Who at this day does not know, that previous to 

♦The Physiology of Digestion. By A. Combe, M. D. : 5th ed., Edin., p. 145. 



224 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

the vinous fermentation, no juices of wholesome fruits or grains 
are in the least degree intoxicating ? Who does not know that 
all the alcohol on earth, whether existing in wine, beer, cider, 
rum, brandy or gin, or anything else, is produced solely and 
exclusively by this same process of fermentation ? 

"Distillation produces no alcohol — not a particle — nor does 
it alter the nature of the alcohol previously existing. It only 
separates the alcohol previously produced by fermentation. 
. . . Having learned from the Bible, that God expressly 
prohibits the use of certain wines, while He speaks of other 
wines as a blessing ; and, having learned that vinous fermenta- 
tion, and that alone, can draw the dividing line between 'the 
mocker' and the 'blessing,' we possess ourselves, do we not, 
of the true Scripture doctrine on the subject ? The Bible 
prohibits intoxicating wines. It allows and sanctions those that 

/are unintoxicating. Both these kinds of wine we know have 
existed, and have been extensively used in the East, from the 

.earliest periods to the present time. ' Look not thou upon the 
wine when it is red, when it giveth his color in the cup, when 
it moveth itself aright ; at the last it biteth like a serpent, and 
stingeth like an adder :' (Prov. xxiii, 29-32.) What a graphic 
description of a fermenting liquor ! The reader sees it move 
and sparkle. The most scientific definition of the modern 
chemist could not have been equally demonstrative, forcible, 
and universally intelligible ! How total the prohibition, ' look 
not.' The temperance societies have only said: 'touch not, 
taste not, handle not.' Let the Bible carry things farther. 
'Wine is a mocker.' Yes, the thing itself Not its abuse, as 
some say. 'Because he transgresseth through wine:' (Hab. 
ii, 5.) Not through the abuse of wine. 'Be not among wine- 
bibbers:' (Prov. xxiii, 20.) To bib, or sip wine, is certainly a 
very 'moderate ' way of using it ' as a drink.' But God for- 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 225 

bids us not only to drink, but to sip — not only to sip, but even 
to be among those who do so." # 

As for argument on the other side, I would simply say, that 
if hoary age can sanctify error, or the tenacity with which it is 
grasped, convert it into truth, then I yield submission to the 
only powers which (it seems to me,) can be brought to bear 
against the law which I believe to be in the Bible, against alco- 
holic, or in other words, fermented wine, in man's normal state 
of health. 

But some may be heard to say, in contradiction to these 
views: " This doctrine is too high for us; we cannot attain to 
it. We cannot get such wine as you so positively assert the 
law of God requires us to use." "Think again, dear friends. 
Have you ever attained yet, to the perfect keeping of any of 
the Commandments of the Decalogue ? If so, you must be 
more than human, — you must be Divine. For "it is written, 
there is none righteous, no not one. There is none that under- 
standeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all 
gone out of the .way, they are together become unprofitable ; 
there is none that doeth good, no not one :" (Romans iii, 10-12.) 
"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the 
truth is not in us :" (I John i, 8.) " For in many things we 
offend all:" (James iii, 2.) 

" But have you honestly tried to get unfermented wine ; and, 
after hearty, persevering efforts, have you failed in your at- 
tempts ? Have you been as much upon your guard to avoid 
the use of intoxicating wine as you have been to shun lying, or 
stealing, or sabbath-breaking ; and, has it been your assiduous 
desire, especially to succeed in obtaining unfermented fruit of 
the vine to represent your Saviour's blood at His supper? If 
so, I venture to affirm, without much fear of contradiction, that 
you have not been compelled to drink fermented or alcoholic 

*The Enquirer. Appendix: p. 16. 



226 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

wine, to any considerable extent, anywhere ; and, that the only 
insurmountable objection to your sitting clown at the Lord's 
table, in the church to which you belong, has arisen, not from 
the impossibility or impracticability of getting unfermented 
fruit of the vine to show forth the Lord's death, but from the 
disinclination of your fellow Christians to receive it, because 
they prefer intoxicating wine as the emblem of His sin-atoning 
blood, and do not care to search the Scriptures to find out 
' whether these things were so.' Moreover, brethren, let it 
be remembered by you who oppose this doctrine, that it is not 
obligatory, by command of God, upon you or any one to drink 
of wine at all, either inebriating or no/z-inebriating, (any more 
than it is or was binding upon you to get married,) except at 
the sacred ordinance of the Lord's supper; and surely, upon 
reflection, you cannot find it very difficult to procure grapes, 
either dried or fresh, or preserved by some chemical process, 
uncorrupted — as often as you resolve to bring to mind your 
Saviour's blood-shedding for your sins, ' according to the 
Scriptures,' — and what more is wanted of you, but a small 
supply of pure water, one of Heaven's choicest, and yet most 
abundant blessings, wherewithal to make an infusion of the 
precious fruit, which Jesus has so highly honored by selecting 
it to be the symbol of His life's blood poured out on the Cross 
at Calvary, to atone for our sins, — and a believing, loving heart, 
to partake of it?" 

The best practical rule for Christians to adopt, would be, 
never to drink of wine or any other liquor, when alone, in the 
family, or society, unless convinced of its being unintoxicating ; 
and to make doubly sure of that which is about to be dispensed 
at the Lord's supper, being without the slightest taint of alco- 
hol, or other poison. 

Believe me, my dear brother, 

Yours most affectionately, 

JOHN MATE. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 227 



LETTER III. 

My Dear Friend, 

Next to the groundless supposition, to which 
professing Christians so generally adhere, that intoxicating 
wine was given by our Lord to His disciples at the 
institution of His supper, in the upper room at Jerusalem, — ■ 
perhaps no event, in His most memorable life, has been more 
confidently urged, or with less reason, as a plea against teeto- 
talism, than His turning water into wine at the "marriage in 
Cana, of Galilee." The simple and beautiful narrative, as con- 
tained in the 2d chapter of John's Gospel, is as follows : 

"And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee, 
and the mother of Jesus was there. And both Jesus was called, 
and His disciples to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, 
the mother of Jesus saith unto Him, They have no wine. Jesus 
saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee ? mine 
hour is not yet come. His mother saith unto the servants, 
Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it. And there were set 
there six water-pots of stone, after the manner of the purifying 
of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus saith 
unto them, Fill the water-pots with water. And they filled 
them up to the brim. And He saith unto them, Draw out now, 
and bear unto the governor of the feast ; and they bare it. 
When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made 
wine, and knew not whence it was, (but the servants which 
drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the 
bridegroom, and saith unto him, Every man at the beginning 
doth set forth good wine ; and when men have well drunk, then 
that which is worse : but thou hast kept the good wine until 
now. This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, 
and manifested forth His glory ; and His disciples believed on 
Him." 



228 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

With the light which has been shed upon the subject of anti- 
alcoholic temperance, in preceding letters, I apprehend there 
will be no great difficulty in setting at rest the question, " Was 
the wine, which Jesus made in Cana of Galilee, intoxicating or 
unintoxicating ?" Without hesitation, but after much thought, 
I say unintoxicating, because the action of Jesus could not 
have been in opposition to His own law, — and it was His law 
(as has, I trust, been satisfactorily proved by incontrovertible 
facts and arguments, in the course of these letters,) that men 
should not drink of intoxicating wine, or other intoxicating 
liquor, except for necessary medicinal purposes. There is not 
the shadow of a reason, for holding the opinion that the wine 
which Jesus made at this marriage was inebriating. It is 
founded upon the groundless assumption, that because Christian 
men, in large numbers, will have it, that there is only one kind 
of wine, and that intoxicati?ig, — and that there never was any 
other; therefore, all the Scriptures, which either positively or 
by implication, forbid the use of wine, must apply to it, not in 
all quantities, and of all degrees of alcoholic strength, but only 
to the immoderate use of it, contrary to the obvious meaning 
of the following, and many similar passages of Holy Writ : 
"Look not thou upon the wine when it is red;" attention to 
which, has been given thoroughout these letters. The dispu- 
tants upon the opposite sides of this question, may be arranged 
under the distinctive appellations of, " The Alcoholic School," 
and " The Anti-alcoholic School." 

To the Alcoholic School, belonged the celebrated Missionary 
to China, the Rev. Dr. Medhurst, some time deceased. It 
boasts of the popular Dr. Cumming, also, as a resolute com- 
batant ; and to it the majority of divines of the present day, 
zealously attach themselves, — including all those who go no 
farther than what is called Christian expediency, — and who will 
not allow that the laws of revelation and physiology equally 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 229 

militate against the use of alcohol in man's normal state of 
health. 

To the Anti-alcoholic School, on the other hand, belong all 
those who claim for the Bible, the distinct enunciation of a law 
against the use of alcoholic liquors, by man in his normal state 
of health ; and for Science, the explicit declaration of the same 
law. 

One or two specimens, illustrative of the mode of reasoning 
of disciples of each of these schools, may now be given. 

The Rev. Dr. Medhurst, in his sermon, ''Add to your faith 
— temperance:" (II Peter i, 5, 6,) referred to in a previous 
letter, thus expresses himself : 

"We are now prepared to consider the question relative to 
the wine made at the marriage in Cana. We have already got 
the definition of oinos, not only from its derivation, but from 
the meaning assigned to it by our Lord himself. When, there- 
fore, we find that the oinos is spent at a certain feast, and that 
our Saviour produces a liquor which is reckoned, by a tolerable 
judge, to be good oinos ; what are we to suppose that that oinos 
was. What, but the identical liquid which is spoken of, in 
another part of the same book, as fermented wine ? We must 
say, that if the evangelist intended that we should understand 
by it an unfermented and a non-intoxicating wine, it became 
him to employ some other term, in order to prevent our being 
led astray. 

" We may further infer, that the oinos made on that occasion 
was fermented wine, from the account given of it by the master 
of the feast. Referring to a general rule on such occasions, he 
says, ' Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine, 
and when men have well drunk, 1 or have had a tolerable por- 
tion, ' then that which is worse : but thou hast kept the good 
wine until now.' Now let us try to explain this, on the sup- 
position of its being unfermented wine. Unfermented wine is 
used only to slake thirst, or to please the palate. If no stimulus 
20 



230 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

"be present, as soon as the thirst is quenched, or the taste grati- 
fied, there remains no more desire to drink; and, not to speak 
of inferior wine being then offered, even the same sort of wine 
would be loathed and rejected. Merely sweet beverages soon 
cloy, and watery potions fill the stomach ; so that when men 
have well drunk of these, they want no more. The man, there- 
fore, who would give his good must, or syrup, first, and keep 
that which is inferior till afterwards, would be likely to get the 
subsequent beverage returned with disgust upon his hands. 
But, on the supposition that the oinos referred to was fermented 
wine, the speech of the master of the feast accords with com- 
mon sense and experience. Fermented wine is used as a stimu- 
lant and as a cordial; being of an exciting nature, it can be 
taken into the stomach long after thirst has ceased ; there is 
still a relish for it, when considerable potions have been swal- 
lowed down ; and such a relish as would induce men to drink 
it, notwithstanding the subsequent liquor were somewhat infe- 
rior to what was formerly given. The man, therefore, who 
would keep his inferior fermented wine till afterwards, would 
be likely to have it accepted, and thus to save his superior beve- 
rage ; particularly, when the acute sense of taste was so far 
blunted, as that the difference was not readily perceived. In 
this, we have been merely discussing the speech of the master 
of the feast, as to the general practice on such occasions. The 
evangelist does not say, that the guests at the marriage feast 
of Cana had well drunk ; he merely says that usterantos oinou 
— 'they wanted wine,' or the wine was done ; while the mother 
of Jesus said to Him, 'they have no wine.' It was, therefore, 
to supply their need, and not to provide them with superfluities, 
that Jesus turned the water into wine. The quantity, also, 
will not appear great when we consider that there were at 
such feasts, sometimes, hundreds of persons, amongst whom, 
even six water-pots full of the light wine commonly used in 
Judea, would not have been too large a supply." 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 231 

It appears evident to me, that Dr. Medhurst has mistaken 
the points of contrast, brought out in bold relief in the address 
of the governor of the feast to the bridegroom. It was not, 
in my opinion, more intoxicating wine, or wine containing a 
larger percentage of alcohol, made by the miraculous power of 
Jesus, which the governor intended to contrast with less intoxi- 
cating wine provided for the guests at an earlier period of the 
feast, but the custom of " every man " — (i. e., men in general — 
as "tout le monde" or "all the world," is a term applied to 
a great and indefinite number;) at the beginning setting forth 
good wine, and, when the guests had well drunk or used a good 
deal of- liquid for a considerable space of time, supplying them 
with wine of an inferior quality, which he intended to contrast 
with the exceptional conduct of the bridegroom upon this occa- 
sion, in keeping the good wine in store till late in the feast, and 
then presenting it to the guests contrary to established custom ! 
If this view be correct, then the nature of the wine is not to be 
judged of from the speech of the governor, which conveys no 
information as to what was esteemed good in his day, nor from 
the habits of the people, but from the character of Him who 
made it, even the Saviour of sinners, who, as has been stated 
already, could not have broken His own commandment, but 
must have acted in conformity with it, in converting the water 
contained in the firkins into unfermented, unintoxicating wine. 
The foundation upon which Dr. Medhurst built his reasonings 
and conclusions, was this : He judged of the nature of the wine 
miraculously produced by our Saviour, from the notion that 
because unfermented wine was not recognized by the churches 
of Christ, or by him in his day, as a distinct entity; therefore, 
it could not have been recognized by Jesus, or the Jewish 
people as such, and approved of by Him and them, when this 
miracle was performed, although there was nothing stronger 
than the following allegations to sustain his position, viz : that 
men would not want sweet beverages which soon cloy, or watery 



232 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

potions which fill the stomach, after haying well drunk ; there- 
fore, they would be likely to refuse an inferior kind of must 
if offered to them — whereas having their taste blunted by 
the previous use of intoxicating wine, (implying a somewhat 
advanced stage of drunkenness,) a wine less intoxicating might 
be relished by them; thus making prior intoxication, poisoning 
or drunkenness, a necessary condition to the stability of his 
hypothesis, upon which hypothesis alone he could have built 
his doctrine that Jesus "manufactured" wine more intoxi- 
cating than that previously used by the guests, at the marriage 
of Cana of Galilee, for their use when intoxicated. 

I have already shown that the points of contrast in the 
governor's speech, were not differences in the quality of the 
wines used, as intoxicating or unintoxicating, as has been 
assumed without the least shadow of proof, but supposed 
differences in the doings of the bridegroom at the marriage of 
Cana, and other bridegrooms at marriages generally, in respect 
to wines for the use of the guests, as good or bad, better or 
worse ; the point mooted being, not whether the guests preferred 
the last presented wine to the other upon ordinary occasions, — 
received or rejected it; but simply the difference between 
this bridegroom and others, in his supplying good or superior 
wine towards the end; whereas, it was the ordinary practice 
to give inferior wine last. It is very possible, nay probable, 
that the guests may not have relished the last wine so much as 
the first (if the same persons throughout,) upon such occasions, 
and it can hardly be supposed that they would, if there was 
much disparity between them, (an event very likely to occur in 
consequence of exhaustion of the servants from continuous and 
protracted labor, and their consequent inability rightly to 
prepare the wines if inspissated,) and all this would tend to 
enhance the character of Immanuel, by comparison, in the 
eyes of all who knew the law of God to be against alcoholic 
liquors ; but the creation of alcoholic wine on the other hand, 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 233 

so to depress it, as to shear Him of the rays of Divine glory. 
The alcoholic hypothesis must, therefore, be rejected, not only 
as utterly without foundation, but in the highest degree impious 
and atheistical. 

How different the doctrine which we maintain. It is no 
groundless, gratuitous supposition — no chimera — no castle in 
the air — no figment of the imagination — but a noble, compact, 
indestructible edifice, built upon the foundation of the word of 
God.* 

* Let it be clearly understood, that the criterion by which we are to judge of 
the quality of the wine as good or bad, better or worse, spoken of by the 
governor of the feast upon this occasion, is not to be derived from anything 
said by him, or from any data furnished by modern opinions of wine, founded 
upon established usages, which have exalted alcohol to a high place in popular 
estimation, as " a good creature of God," to be used as a drink for man. Let 
it be further clearly understood that the criterion, by which we are to judge, 
is to be derived solely from the Holy Scriptures, and the character of Jesus, 
as perfect God and perfect man, "in two distinct natures, in one person 
forever;" rendering it impossible that He, the only mediator between God 
and man, who covenanted to keep the whole law, (of course including all its 
parts,) (Matt, iii, 15: v, 17, 18,) and endure its penalty, (I Peter ii, 24,) 
could, in any instance, or in the least iota, have deviated from it ; and, as it 
has been proved that total abstinence from alcoholic liquors, is a part of the 
Divine law in man's normal state of health, — therefore, it behoved the 
Lord Jesus Christ to abstain from these liquors as His people's surety, to 
complete " the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto 
all and upon all that believe:" (Romans iii, 22.) Dr. Lees broaches an 
ingenious speculation: "that the marriage of Cana of Galilee, was left to be 
recorded by St. John, whose Gospel is last in order in the Sacred canon, that 
he might successfully oppose a doctrine then prevalent, that of Manicheism, 
or of two principles, Ormuzd and Ahriman — the former representing the good 
Spirit, and father of light ; and the latter the evil, the creator of the material 
world, but the enemy of light and truth. 

"This general notion," says the learned Dr., "we can readily comprehend, 
would receive an emphatic application, when directed to the vine — the 
supposed source of an intoxicating agent, whose connexion with evil had 
been apparent in every age and country, wherein it has been consumed as 
human beverage. A Turkish proverb says: C A devil lurks in every berry 
of the vine.'' Here, then, was a doctrine and principle which divorced the 
outward, physical and organic universe of God — the mirror of His perfection, 



234 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

Hear what the learned and ingenious author of " Tirosh Lo 
Yayin" says, in relation to this groundless hypothesis which 
we have been fighting against: "The proofs which we have 
already given of the existence of unfermented wines in anti- 

and the instrument of His will — from the spiritual essence and mental powers 
enshrined within the living temple of the body, — a doctrine of abstinence 
indeed, yet a very spurious off-shoot from the oldest and most genuine truth 
of temperance, founded upon just and natural distinctions, — a doctrine 
moreover, of such a baleful tendency in its relations both to morals and 
religion, that we for our part, find in the direct and unmistakable antagonism 
to it, of the miracle at Cana, a wonderful significancy and depth of meaning : 
Could Christ in this beginning of miracles at Cana, to show forth the Father s 
glory, have selected any mode of teaching more fitting than one which, in 
practically reclaiming to the sovereignty of the One, both the realms of 
matter and spirit, was at once an illustration of the falsehood, and a prophecy 
of the final extinction of oriental dualism ? It is a remarkable confirmation 
of the preceding view, that the record of this miracle should be found only 
in the latest of the Gospels, that of John — a Gospel which, to every scholar, 
bears evident marks of adaptation, both in form and matter, to the philosophy 
and errors of the last years of the Apostolic age." — \Kalon Oinon: p, 30. 

I am disposed to view this opinion of Dr. Lees with favor, as carrying with 
it an air of probability, and as consistent with the doctrine I have endeavored 
to establish upon Scriptural data, that "the fruit of the vine is the Divinely- 
appointed antidote of alcoholic intemperance." But I believe there were 
and are, other reasons besides this, which ought to be weighed in attempting 
to account for this miracle being reserved to be recorded by the disciple whom 
Jesus loved ; and, I would say, 

1st. That one reason for this was, (speaking with humility and reverence 
becoming this sacred and sublime theme,) that he was not required to enter 
into the particulars of the Lord's supper, in which "the fruit of the vine" 
occupies so conspicuous a place, and which were narrated by all the other 
Evangelists. 

2d. That he was the beloved disciple par excellence; therefore, it was most 
seemly that he should be the recorder of the first miracle, and one of the most 
remarkable of all ; so intimately related to the success of his Master's work 
upon earth, and the manifestation of His glory. 

3d. If this miracle of the conversion of water into wine, had been left out 
of the Holy Scriptures, there would have been a deficiency of the materials 
so important to strengthen the broad and indestructible foundation of Anti- 
alcoholic Temperance, by affording a living, truth-telling, soul-inspiring 
motive, along with those before touched upon, especially to newly married 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 235 

quity and in the Saviour's days, and of the popular taste and 
predilection for thern even in heathen countries, offer to the 
choice an interpretation consonant to the Divine character. 

persons and their future progeny, to abstain always from alcoholic liquors in 
their normal state of health; and, if it had not been recorded by St. John, 
(the disciple whom Jesus loved,) who afterwards had these impressive words 
addressed to him by his Master, when hanging on the Cross, "behold thy 
mother," as Mary had these words addressed to her, "behold thy son," it 
would have lost much of the power which it derives from the Divine, maternal 
and filial tenderness, love, and home -sympathy, which must ever be associated 
with it, and render it the most precious, heart-expanding, soul-strengthening 
of miracles to the humble follower of " the meek and lowly Jesus," who sees 
through the mystery of "the fruit of the vine," and believes it to be the 
Heaven-appointed remedy of Alcoholic Intemperance. 

Mark well the effects of the opposite hypothesis, of the Alcoholic School, 
which not only neutralizes the efficacy of all these beauteous associations for 
body and soul-saving purposes, "by one fell swoop;" but in their place, 
under homage to the Prince of this world, " the Spirit that now worketh in 
the children of disobedience," — by endorsing his lie, that Jesus ever made, 
used or patronized alcoholic wine ; in the most effectual manner, carries out 
his designs for the destruction of the human species ! 

4th. Another reason to be assigned for the place which this miracle occupies 
in the sacred records, and for John being the sole narrator of it, is the 
following: John is the Evangelist who most fully explains the doctrine of 
the new birth in the never to be forgotten discourse of our Saviour with 
JSTicodemus : (John iii, 1-21.) He is also the only Evangelist who records the 
first Passover which was attended by our Lord, in connexion with the ejection 
of the sellers of oxen and money changers from the court of the Gentiles. 
Take these facts placed in juxtaposition in the Bible with the miracle of 
the conversion of water into wine at Cana of Galilee, and I ask, if there be 
not ground for believing that this apposition was designed of God, and not 
accidental, and that it was designed in order to afford prompt means for 
establishing something important ? Now the question is, how could the 
facts of the new birth, — the conversion of water into wine, — the ignominious 
expulsion of the desecrators of the Temple therefrom, — and of the occurrence 
of the first Passover, at which Jesus was present, have been reconciled in the 
mind of John, their narrator, or in the minds of the other Apostles present, 
with the assumption that Jesus converted the water into alcoholic, intoxicating 
wine? If it had been alcoholic wine, would not John and the other disciples 
of John the Baptist (supposing them to have been present at the marriage,) 
have instantaneously perceived, and been appalled by the incongruity of their 



236 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

"With such an alternative, how can we 'presume to entertain 
the thought that the Lord of Life could, at the commencement 
of His public ministry on earth, have created a liquor contain- 
ing alcohol, an element so adapted to destroy life? or, that He 

new Master, Jesus, presenting to them intoxicating wine, produced by His 
miraculous power, — that wine which they had been taught by the example of 
their former master to eschew, and the seductive, dangerous nature of which, 
they must have been acquainted with? Would not their astonishment and dis- 
may have been still greater afterwards upon reflection, when they thought of the 
impossibility of reconciling such a miracle with the doctrine of the new birth, 
to which, intoxicating liquor must be so great an enemy, — and of the incon- 
sistency of expelling the money changers, and sellers of oxen and doves, from 
the court of the Gentiles, after having given to His friends, a short time 
before, intoxicating ivine to drink; (which must have appeared to them a 
greater violation of the Divine law;) and especially, when they had compared 
that fact with the fact of His partaking, soon after, of unfermented, unin- 
toxicating wine at the Jewish Passover? Such anomalies would have been 
to them stumbling blocks which they could not get over. If such intoxicating 
wine as the Alcoholic School believe in, had been the product of the miraculous 
power of Jesus at Cana, can you conceive it possible that John, and others 
who had been the disciples of John the Baptist, would have remained with 
him ; or, that the disputed miracle would have been recorded by the beloved 
disciple who leaned upon Jesus' bosom at meat? You cannot believe it. He 
would have been deserted by them. But this was not the case, — therefore the 
wine made by Jesus, was unintoxicating. 

Another class of reasons may be assigned for the belief that the wine, 
created by Jesus at Cana, was unintoxicating — derived from a consideration 
of some of the chief ordinances of our holy religion, viz : Marriage, — Sabbath 
or the Lord's Day, — Baptism, — and the Lord's Supper: all links of the same 
sacred chain which binds heaven to earth — so that when one link gives way, 
the continuity is dissolved, — the celestial influences are interrupted, — the sen- 
sual and terrene operate with full force, and the progress downwards is rapid and 
certain. But what is it which most tends to corrode the links of this celestial 
chain, if not alcohol? Thus, let two members of the church begin, by having 
their marriage solemnized with alcoholic liquors, under the countenance of the 
officiating minister, and what is likely to follow from the initiation of the 
bride and bridegroom into alcoholic usages (if not before tainted with the love 
of alcohol,) but that they will continue to use "wine or strong drink" in 
their family, — soon acquiring a liking for it, — and command their children 
and household after them, not according to the example of faithful Abraham, 
ie the Friend of God," so that their children should do "justice and judg- 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 237 

who came into the world to save souls, could have offered it to 
others, to dethrone the reasoning faculty, or that immortal 
part of man, the soul, wherein alone he resembles his Creator? 
or, that He could have sanctioned by His presence, the. drinking 

nient," — but after that of some luxurious, pampered, obese worshipper of 
Bacchus, leading them by precept and practice to become drinkers of intoxi- 
cating wine from their youth, as if in doing so they were presenting a (< spiri- 
tual sacrifice acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." 

Again, let the starting point of the evil habit be Baptism, and similar effects 
will follow ; for what is more natural than for the parents to think or reason 
thus: i( Jesus used alcoholic wine at the marriage of Cana, (so I believe, for 
so I have been taught by my sabbath -school teachers and ministers,) and also 
at the institution of the sacrament of the Lord s supper. He must have 
been right in doing so. I must be right in following His example at a cere- 
mony of religion equally binding, and equally sacred." Who could find fault 
with him for reasoning thus, and acting accordingly? Or, let the Lord's table 
be the starting point, the same consequences will follow. The use of alcoholic 
liquors will be consecrated in all religious families. While the belief remains, 
the practice must follow, except amongst the small and despised sect of teetotal- 
ers. Moreover, if the habit has commenced at the Lord's table, alcoholic wine 
being identified with the precious blood of the Lamb, may be deemed a true 
friend of man, under all cirtumstances, as Jesus certainly is ; and, therefore, 
be applied indiscriminately and with equal partiality in health and disease — 
lassitude and excitement — cold and heat — -joy and sorrow; in short, in diseases 
of mind and body, however contradictory, as a certain remedy for them all ! 
Once more — the Lord s day being most intimately and indissolubly associated 
with the Lords supper — no marvel if people think they should be more 
liberal in their potations upon that day than any other ! Whether they have 
been so or not, let the keepers of taverns and police courts testify ! 

On the other hand — let the truth as it is in Jesus — upon this most important 
question — prevail, and the results will be blessed indeed. Instead of one 
religious festival and ordinance after another, becoming a snare to entrap, — 
a tyrant to enslave men's souls, — a deadly, venom to corrupt and destroy their 
bodies, — and an inlet to all kinds of crimes, — they all of them would be what 
their All -wise and benevolent Designer, with perfect wisdom, intended they 
should, — channels to transmit gracious streams from the river of the water of 
life into the spiritual mind, making it like "a well watered garden — filled 
with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ to the praise and 
glory of God;" while the body, preserved in health and vigor to a good old 
age by the same means, would unite with it singing the praise of their benefi- 
cent Creator, Preserver, Redeemer and Sanctifier — Father, Son and Holy 



238 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

of a liquor 'possessing 'properties of a character similar to that 
which He rejected at His dying hour ? It has often been a 
subject of grief, no less than of astonishment, that serious 
people, and even religious people should have manifested such 
eagerness to prove the Saviour the creator of an intoxicating 
wine, and for persons already (as they contend,) intoxicated, at 
a marriage feast, or the boon companion of the glutton and the 
drunkard. How weak, how wicked must they be, who ivould 
thus {reflect ingly,) break down the foundation of their hope 
of redemption ; for if such were really the character of the 
Christ that hath come, then hath the true Messiah not yet 
come, and all their hopes and expectations are in vain /" 
— [Tirosh Lo Yayin: p. 152. 

Ghost, in this world, till their separation at death, and in the New Jerusalem 
forever and ever, when re-united at " the resurrection of the just." 

To conclude : Marriage may be viewed as the Divine model-institution for 
regulating and preserving pure intercourse between the sexes : 

Baptism, as the Divine model-institution for teaching the necessity of inter- 
nal spiritual purifying by the Holy Spirit, and the connexion between inward 
and outward purity : 

The Lord's Day, as the Divine model-institution for the sanctification of 
time : and 

The Lord's Supper, as the Divine model -institution for teaching the neces- 
sity of the washing away of human guilt with the sacrificial blood of the Lamb. 

"The Fruit of the Vine," with all its holy associations, has been wisely 
designed and admirably adapted by Divine Providence, as an instrument for 
the sanctification of believers, in connexion with all these ordinances ; and, I 
believe, was dispensed by our blessed Redeemer at the marriage of Cana and 
at His own supper, (for this, with other reasons,) to give us an "example that 
we should follow His steps." 

The poison alcohol, the product of corruption, is opposed to the pure pur- 
poses to be subserved by all these institutions, and is, therefore, forbidden by 
the Almighty in the domestic circle, (the house of man,) of which marriage 
is the source and guardian; in the church, (the house of God,) of which 
ee the blood of the Lamb," symbolized by "the pure blood of the grape," 
at the Lord's supper, is the price and the purifier; and at all repasts, and upon 
all occasions, (except in disease,) connected directly or indirectly with these 
blessed ordinances. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 239 

Hear, also, what your learned and talented friends, the Rev. 
Dr. Nott, Professor Moses Stuart, and the sainted Dr. Justin 
Edwards have said upon this subject : " Had Pliny, Columella, 
Theophrastus, Plutarch, and other ancient sages, some of whom 
were cotemporary with the Apostles, presided at this festival, 
the question at issue as to the kind of wine miraculously sup- 
plied, would have been decided ; for these men have sat in 
judgment on the quality of wines, and pronounced the weaker, 
unintoxicating wines, the better wines. But these men did not 
preside at this festival, and whether the master of the feast, 
who did, agreed with them in their opinion concerning the rela- 
tive goodness of wines, we are not informed, and will not pre- 
sume, therefore, authoritatively to decide; but, on the contrary, 
leave the question, whether the Saviour of the world miracu- 
lously supplied on this occasion, deleterious, exciting, i?itoxi- 
eating wine, or sober, moral, unintoxicating wine, to be 
passed on by the enlightened reason and conscience of others. 
For ourselves, however, we may be permitted to say, in view of 
all the circumstances of the case, we incline to the opinion that 
the wine, declared by the master of the feast to be ' good wine,' 
was good wine — good in the sense that Pliny, Columella, or 
Theophrastus would have used the term 'good,' when applied 
to wine ; that is, good, because nutritious and unintoxicating; 
and of which the guests, even at such an hour, might drink 
freely and without apprehension, — because it was wine, which 
though it would refresh and cheer, would not derange, demo- 
ralize, or intoxicate." # 

"But the wedding at Cana of Galilee? How comes it that 
wine was miraculously supplied, in case it be not proper to 
drink it ? Truly it is impossible to suppose this, and yet leave 
the character of the holy Saviour unscathed. But as the ruler 
of the feast pronounced the wine, that had just been made, by 
far the best ; and as it is clear that the ancients regarded the 

* Dr. Nott's Lectures on Temperance : p. 143. 



240 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

unfer merited wine as bearing this character : what hinders us 
from supposing this to be the kind of wine which the conde- 
scension and comity of the Saviour, towards His friends, sup- 
plied ? Nay, I may well ask : When His spotless character, 
and hatred of sin and all defilement are taken into view, and 
to this is joined the character of the guests on this occasion, 
what allows us with any 'propriety to suppose that alcoholic 
wine zv as furnished by miraculous power ?" # 

"' Every man.' This is the statement of what was usual 
on such occasions. Pliny, who lived at that time, says : good 
wine was that which was destitute of spirit : — Book iv, chapter 
13. Plutarch calls that the best wine which is harmless; that 
the most useful, which has the least strength; and that the 
most wholesome, in which nothing was added to the juice of 
the grape." t 

Let me draw this letter to a close, by quoting largely from a 
most interesting article contained in " The Abstainer's Journal," 
edited by the Rev. William Reid, December, 1854, entitled 
" Unbelievers and the Bible ;" the extracts from which, I hope, 
may tend to open the eyes of some, in other respects, devout and 
conscientious Christian ministers and laymen who have, hitherto, 
occupied a most unenviable and perilous position in advocating 
the doctrine, that Jesus manufactured intoxicating wine at the 
marriage of Cana, and otherwise patronized it : 

" Modern experience and science have now clearly determined 
the essentially deleterious character of alcoholic drinks. From 
this there can be no successful appeal ; and men can only shut 
out conviction by shutting out evidence. Taking this ground, 
the immovable ground of physical truth, the modern sceptic 
revives the objections of the English deists of the seventeenth 
and eighteenth centuries, but revives them with a terribly- 
increased power, subtlety and conclusiveness. Dr. Strauss, in 

* Scriptural View of the Wine Question. By Professor M. Stuart: p. 53. 
t Family Bible with Notes. By Rev. Dr. J. Edwards : John ii, 9. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 241 

Germany, and the Reasoner, the organ of atheism in England, 
are even now busily engaged in reproducing those objections to 
Holy Writ, which, in relation to the marriage at Cana, and the 
temperance question generally, are intended either to discredit 
the miracle of the transformation of water into wine, or to 
place the sanction of Scripture in antagonism to the verdict of 
morality, experience and science. 

"Referring to the last edition of the Lehen Jesu of the 
German sceptic, and having our attention called to an article 
on ' the Bible and Teetotalism,' in No. 12 of the Reasoner 
for September last, we have been shocked to find that the chief 
weapons of the unbelievers are drawn from the armory of 
Christian divines; and, that the sceptic mocker of the Bible, 
and the professional expounder of Holy Writ, are ranged side 
by side against the school of temperance reformers which main- 
tains the harmony of the divine word and works. There is 
not a principle of interpretation — not a single assumption of 
any importance, which the infidel assailant of the Bible requires 
for his purpose, which is not borrowed from the books of the 
orthodox believer ! Surely, this is a fact which should startle 
the Christian drinker into reflecting, whether it is not possible 
that he may have been thoughtlessly occupying, not only a 
dangerous, but a thoroughly false position ? In the spirit of 
perfect toleration, and of Christian humility, we beseech a 
renewed and impartial examination of this important topic. A 
few passages will illustrate the unity of conception, and the 
identity of stand-point, between the revilers of revelation and 
the common expounders of it : 

1. tlt Wine,' says the Christian drinker, ' is not wine unless 
it be fermented.' 1 So objects the arch-infidel of all time, Dr. 
Strauss, ' The wine at Cana was no wine. 1st. Unless other 
elements were put into the water. 2d. Unless it was organi- 
cally individuated to the vine. 3d. Unless it had gone through 
the natural processes of growing, blooming, ripening, etc. 4th. 
21 



242 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

Unless it had been artificially pressed out, 5th. Unless it had 
been accelerated by the further natural process of fermentation? 
The German professor is more subtle than the British drinker, 
who makes the last process essential to his notion of ■ wine ;' 
but omits the former. Neander rightly objects, ' That we are 
not justified in inferring that the water was changed into 
manufactured wine ; but that Christ substituted His creative 
power for various natural and artificial processes ; that He 
intensified^ so to speak, the powers of water into those of wine. 
Indeed,' he adds, 'this latter view of the miracle, conforms 
better to its spiritual import, than the former. It is the pecu- 
liarity of the work of Christianity not to destroy what is natu- 
ral, but to ennoble and transfigure it, as the organ of Divine 
powers? The idea of this passage is excellent, but imperfectly 
carried out. The simple water is ennobled by a transmutation 
into natural wine — ' the wine in the cluster ' — while the • wine ' 
that ' is a mocker ' is not the organ of Divine, but rather of 
demoniac power. He who wishes to be full of the Holy Spirit 
must not be full of wine. Hence the Apostle (Ephes. v. 18) 
places them in antithesis. (See Olshausen.) 

2. "It is common for divines (take Dr. Cumming by way of 
example,) in their explanations of Scripture, to assume that 
* ivine ' and * alcoholic wine ? are necessarily synonymous 
phrases; and they illogically put the latter for the former. 
The writer in the Reasoner does so likewise. It is the same 
fallacy as if he were to change everywhere the word i spirit ' 
into 'evil spirit,' or the word 'man' into 'blackmail? No 
allowance is made for the generic meaning of the word, or for 
the context, which is nevertheless, an important element in a 
just exegesis. Thus when Solomon ironically refers to the 
evil custom of drowning dull care with strong drink — as much 
as to say, Giye strong drink to such, if you will, but let not 
the really wise and great, or the kings and princes, to whom 
judgment is committed, even drink such things, lest they pervert 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 243 

justice — the Reasoner, like the tippler, quotes it as grave 
counsel — adding, ' If this be not a license for a degrading vice, 
to drink until you are oblivious of care, I know not what is.' 
And what answer can the drinker give ? 

3. " Even in condemning the explanations of the teetotalers, 
the drinking believer and infidel are at one ; they both pro- 
nounce the harmonising views to be 'flimsy and unsupported 
by fact.' Of course, they both fall into the pit of confusion 
together, commingling texts in the conflict, in which the words 
of the original are altogether different ! Instead of ' rightly 
dividing the word of truth,' hemer is confounded with yayin, 
ausis with tirosh, tirosh with gleukos, and any one of them 
with shemarim, eshishah, or sove ! The distinctions of Holy 
Writ are virtually trampled upon ; by the one party, to support 
a sensual appetite ; by the other, to bolster up an infidel opinion. 

"In Judges ix, 13, says the Reasoner, wine is spoken of as 
1 cheering God and man,' and an irreverent comment is added 
which we cannot quote. Now, the very same word (translated 
cheering) is applied to corn in Zech. ix, 17 ; so that it cannot 
mean ' intoxicating ;' while in Isaiah lxv, 8, the same word that 
is translated wine, occurs with this distinct explanation : ' Thus 
saith the Lord, As the wine is found in the cluster, and one 
saith, Destroy (lit. ferment or corrupt,) it not, for a blessing is 
in it.' Will the Reasoner have the honesty to apologise for 
his misrepresentation of the truth ? We shall see. 

4. "As to facts, the sceptic and the drinker assume whatever 
are required. From the simple word ' wine,' in Paul's advice 
to Timothy, they make it out that Paul recommended Timothy 
' to stimulate his stomach with the moderate use of alcohol V 
If they would dip into Pliny, or even into Thompson's Materia \ 
Medica, Moore's 'Letters from Italy,' or Russell's 'History 
of Aleppo,' they might find facts of a quite other sort. In \ 
wine countries, the use of grape juice, both fresh and boiled, i 



244 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

is a common cure, called the wine cure, for dyspepsia and 
debility. But what are facts to those who don't want them ?" 
I am, my dear brother, 

Yours most affectionately, 

JOHN MAIE. 



LETTER IV. 

My Dear Brother, 

Another vexed question has been, the mode 
of celebrating the Lord's supper in the primitive church at 
Corinth. This controversy seems to me, to have turned upon 
the meaning attached to a single word — " methuei" which, in 
our version of the Bible, is translated "is drunken." It is 
strange what an affection truly good men have manifested to 
this and such like palpable mis- translations, as if their salva- 
tion depended upon them. It can only be accounted for by 
the fact, that they have been the victims of " wine " which 
" is a mocker," and " strong drink " which "is raging," and 
thoroughly blinded thereby. The venerable Arch-deacon Jeff- 
reys has well observed that, I Cor. xi, 21, — the last clause, — 
" ' One is hungry and another is drunken,' — should have been 
translated, 'One is hungry and another is full;'" and, that 
"the antithesis absolutely requires this rendering, for the other 
translation totally destroys the antithesis, and presents a sen- 
tence so ugly, and contrary to the rules of good composition, 
that it is barely good grammar. We shall best illustrate our 
meaning," he continues, " by placing the following antitheses 
together : 

" One is old, another young. 

" One is rich, another poor. 

" One is hungry, another full. 

" ' But one is hungry, and another is drunken,' is an ugly 
sentence, in which the second member of the antithesis is broken 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 245 

off, and the word ' drunken ' is thrust in without any reason, con- 
nection or meaning whatever. But what is worst of all, accord- 
ing to the present translation, the horrible vice of drunkenness 
at the Lord's table is introduced in a most off-hand, indecent, 
careless manner. It has not so much as one entire sentence 
dedicated to it. For if that one word, mis-translated ' drunk- 
en,' be changed, the awful sin of drunkenness at the Lord's 
supper is absolutely struck out of the whole chapter ; for there 
is not so much as another allusion to it, nor anything to suggest 
the idea, in the whole chapter." # 

According to this view, the charge of the Apostle Paul against 
this church, was not that the members of it got drunk at the 
Lord's table, but that the rich feasted, while the poor were 
obliged to fast; not being allowed to partake of the viands which 
had been provided for themselves exclusively, by their selfish 
neighbors ; thus, turning aside the holy ordinance from its origi- 
nal intention of its being a spiritual repast, promotive of love to 
God and man, into a heartless meal, indicative and provocative 
of pride and selfishness on the one part, and of discontent and 
envy on the other ; while all the time the paramount design 
of remembering the Saviour's death, seems to have been 
altogether neglected ! Such a state of things would have been 
amply sufficient to justify the Apostle Paul in administering 
the gentle reproof contained in the 22d verse, in these words : 
"What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in ? or despise 
ye the church of Grod, and shame them that have not ? What 
shall I say to you ? Shall I praise you in this ? I praise you 
not." And one, taking even this more favorable view of the 
case, is disposed to wonder how the Apostle could have passed 
over this offence with so slight a chastisement, and can only 
satisfactorily account for it, by observing what is said in the 
20th verse, viz : " When ye come together, therefore, into one 
place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper ;" implying that they 

♦Arch-deacon Jeffreys, in the Oriental Spectator. 



246 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

had altogether misunderstood the nature and design of the 
ordinance ; and, therefore, were not guilty of the same awful 
crime with which they would have been justly chargeable, if 
they had wilfully acted in despite of the Lord's commandment. 
And this view I am the more inclined to take, because it com- 
ports well with the immediately following recital by the Apostle 
of his commission, received immediately from his Lord and 
Master, respecting the nature and right mode of observance of 
this sacred ordinance, — which seems to have been so strangely 
forgotten by them. 

Upon the whole, from a careful examination of the entire 
passage, it seems to me that the conclusion may legitimately 
be arrived at, that it was the disorderly manner in which the 
feast was conducted, and the unhallowed states of mind of the 
guests, and not the substitution and use of fermented, intoxi- 
cating, for unfermented, unintoxicating wine, as the symbol of 
Christ's blood, — ending in the inebriation of some of them, — 
which drew forth the censure of the Apostle; although, it is 
not unlikely that sorts of food not enjoined in the Divine rule, 
may also have been introduced and partaken of by individuals 
of the company. 

If we could conceive of St. Paul being delegated by Divine 
authority to visit this world on a special mission of philan- 
thropy, the object of which should be, to look into and correct 
the abuses prevailing in the churches of Christ, as regards the 
administration of the Lord's supper with intoxicating wine : how 
are we to suppose he would act in applying a remedy ? Pro- 
bably one of the first things he would do, would be to ascertain 
whether the corruption was universal, or whether there were 
any churches where unfermented, unintoxicating wine was 
dispensed to the communicants. He would find that, in one of 
the United States, New York, in 1841, there were, according 
to " The Enquirer," vol. i, p. 4, about eight hundred churches 
in which unfermented fruit of the vine had been substituted 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 247 

for alcoholic liquor, at the Lord's table. What the number 
in the whole Union now is, I have no means of knowing — 
neither do I know whether the number of churches in your 
State is still as considerable as it was in 1841, in which alco- 
holic wine is excluded, Perhaps you may be able to give some 
reliable information on this important question.* I observed, 



* The startling exposure made some twenty j r ears since, of the adulterations 
then prevalent in the wines of commerce, whether furnished for social use at 
the domestic table, or for sacramental use at the table of the Lord, made a 
deep impression on the public mind, especially on the religious mind throughout 
the United States, — and that it was the duty of the churches to substitute, as 
speedily and to as great an extent as practicable, i( the pure blood of the 
grape," in place of the fabricated, deleterious, intoxicating poisons, then so 
generally in use, was beginning to be felt. 

The reform in this direction, (believed to be the right direction,) was mak- 
ing rapid progress, when opposition to it began suddenly to manifest itself. 
Men of learning, and even clergymen of exemplary piety and elevated station, 
mistaking this movement against the fabricated or fermented wines of com- 
merce, for a movement against the Scriptural wines of the cluster, the vat and 
the press, felt it to be their duty to bear their testimony through the medium 
of the public press, against the movement, as infidel in its tendency, calculated 
to interrupt the existing harmony among churches, and disturb the meditations 
of devout minds while surrounding the table and commemorating the death of 
their ascended Lord. 

This opposition produced its effect in arresting the progress of reform. False 
issues were introduced and an impression made on the public mind, that the 
object was to exclude the use of wine from the sacramental table, and substi- 
tute in its place, water, molasses and water, tamarind and water, and other 
like unauthorized and revolting mixtures. 

Still, and notwithstanding these misrepresentations, a salutary impression 
had been made by the discussion, upon the public mind, and seed was then 
sown that has subsequently produced, and is still producing, its legitimate 
effects. It is worthy of remark perhaps, in this connection, that a diminution 
in the quantity of wine made use of on sacramental occasions, was observable 
in certain churches after this discussion, in relation to the kind of wine to be 
used, took place. An officer, in one church with which I was acquainted, 
containing from five to six hundred members, informed me that, previous to 
this agitation, he usually provided five gallons of wine for the celebration of 
the supper — that afterwards, on like occasions, a quart only was required ; and 
I doubt whether a sixth of the quantity of wine is now used on sacramental 
occasions, that was used before this discussion took place. 



248 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

not many months ago, a number of communications to the 
editor of the Manchester, (Eng.,) "Alliance Weekly News," in 
reply to a correspondent desirous of ascertaining what churches 
used unfermented wine at the communion ? As accurately as I 
can remember, only eighteen churches were returned as using 
such innoxious wine to celebrate their Lord's death, in the 
United Kingdom ; and, of these — two, one at Leeds, the other 
at Nottingham, part of the communicants used intoxicating, 
and part unintoxicating wine, at different tables. 

A distinguished surgeon, and well-known temperance reformer, 
John Higginbottom, Esq., in a letter dated Nottingham, July 
8, 1860, addressed to the editor of the "Alliance Weekly News," 
pleads strongly for the introduction of unfermented wine into 
the churches, in the following words: "The word 'wine' is 
never mentioned by our Redeemer in reference to the Passover. 

There can be no doubt that the opposition, made at that time to the substi- 
tution of the pure, unfermented, unintoxicating fruit of the vine, as the same 
exists in the cluster, the vat and the press, in place of the enforced, fermented, 
intoxicating wines of commerce, arose from a mistaken apprehension, that 
nothing could rightfully be called wine in the Scriptural sense of the term, 
that was not in its nature intoxicating. 

Whether any of those learned and excellent men, who are yet alive, continue 
to hold these opinions, I know not ; but, should the abundant proofs to the 
contrary, which have since been furnished, have reached them and produced a 
conviction in their minds that the pure blood of the grape, as expressed from 
the cluster, is a more appropriate and Scriptural emblem, and therefore a 
more befitting memorial of the death of the son of God, than the enforced, 
fermented and drugged substitutes then resorted to in place thereof, it would 
be a happiness at a crisis like the present, if the evidence of that change of 
opinion could be furnished the public, and a corresponding change introduced 
into their respective churches. 

I have thought it particularly incumbent on the Church of England, as well 
as the Episcopal Church of this Continent, that they should look well as to the 
hind of wine procured for communion purposes, they both having the rule in 
their respective prayer books, that all the wine remaining after communion, 
shall, immediately after the blessing, be reverently drank by the minister and 
other communicants. E. C. D. 

Albany, January 6, 1861. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 249 



It is written ' the cup,' and ' the fruit of the vine,' both in the 
original Greek and in our translation. It occurred to me that 
there is no similitude whatever, between ' the fruit of the vine ' 
and the alcoholic wine commonly used at the Lord's table. 
The fruit of the vine is rich in flavor and taste ; nutritious from 
its containing mucilage, albumen and sugar, — and as such, 
thought worthy to be a type of the blood of Christ. The alco- 
holic wine is deleterious, and destitute of nourishment. The 
port wine, so called, used often at the Lord's table, is frequently 
a mixture of cider, brandy, alum, &c, and coloring matter, 
nauseous, and fiery to the taste, and very objectionable to the 

healthy, pure taste of any individual I may add 

that the Jews use no fermented wine at the Passover, but an 
unfermented wine. The wine they use at this feast is made by 
steeping bloom raisins in water near the fire till the flavor is 
extracted, and it is then used in the unfermented state. The 
unfermented wine I have been accustomed to take, has been 
prepared in the proportion of one pound of bloom raisins with 
two pints of water, put in a covered vessel and placed in an 
oven to simmer for about thirty-six hours, or until only a pint 
of fluid remains. Boiling for a few minutes hastens the making 
and improves the wine. It is then poured off to cool and is fit 
for use. .... I write this paper from a sense of duty, 
for two classes of persons — first, for those who have not yet 
considered the question, and are ignorant of the nature of the 
wine used at the ordinance of the Lord's supper; and secondly, 
for the benefit of my poor teetotal brethren, who are reformed 
drunkards, and are now sincere Christians ; they dare not touch 
the fermented wine at the Lord's supper ; the taste to them 
would be dangerous, as it would lead them again into the temp- 
tation to enter the paths of the destroyer of both soul and body. 
It is sinful to deprive them of so great a Christian privilege. 
. In conversation with an excellent clergyman, and 
a person of considerable influence, he said he should be very 



250 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

glad to use the unfermented wine in his church at the Lord's 
supper ; and, I believe many of the clergy and dissenting minis- 
ters unite with him in this feeling." # 

After this long digression, let us return to the philanthropic 
mission of the Apostle Paul. We have supposed that he would 
institute an inquiry into the number of churches using unfer- 
mented wine, and even here there would be cause found for 
censure in the fact, that in two of the eighteen, reported in 
Great Britain, there was a division, — part using intoxicating, 
and part unintoxicating wine, at different tables ; a state of 
things not very unlike that which called forth the Apostle's 
rebuke in the church of Corinth, thus : " For first of all, when 
ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions 
among you." What would the Apostle say to this in the 19th 
century, when so much is known of the injurious effects of 
alcoholic liquors upon all classes of men, in almost all manner 
of ways, — of the great damage done thereby to the cause of 
Christ, and the dishonor put upon His name ? How painfully 
it would affect his tender and enlightened conscience, to find 
only eighteen congregations, out of many thousands, using 
unfermented wine, in the most highly privileged of all the 
nations of the earth, and two of these churches at variance, in 
regard to a plain Scripture doctrine, upon which perfect unani- 
mity should have reigned long ago. 

In the 80th verse of the 11th chapter of I Corinthians, it is 
said: "For this cause, many are weak and sickly among you, 
and many sleep ;" that was because they misunderstood the 
spiritual nature of the Lord's supper, and observed it in a 
selfish, sensual, carnal manner. What would St. Paul now say 
of the disastrous effects of the vicious mode of commemorating 

* Passover or Sacramental wine, unfermented and unintoxicating, prepared 
from finest Lisbon grapes, and preserved in vacuo, at the suggestion and under 
the direction of Dr. F. R. Lees, by Freeman and Wright, chemists, Kensing- 
ton, London : Price 36s per dozen. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 251 

His Lord's death with the most destructive of poisons, which 
is all but universal, in that land of clear Bible light and per- 
fect religious liberty ? Is there not reason to believe that he 
would impute a great part of the disregard to sacred things 
among the masses, — of the coldness, carnality and lukewarm- 
ness, of many of the members of churches, — and especially, of 
the expulsions therefrom, of nine- tenths of those who are 
excommunicated, (from drunkenness or sins resulting from it,) 
to the use of intoxicating wine as the symbol of our Saviour's 
precious, sin-atoning blood, at His supper— instead of "the 
pure blood of the grape," so plainly enjoined by Him at its 
institution ? What remedy would the Apostle apply ? In 
answer to this question, I can only surmise as a thing not 
improbable, that he might speak of the accumulated experi- 
ence of ages, as to the pernicious effects of alcoholic liquors 
upon man, as a physical, intellectual, moral and religious 
being, — of the multiplicity of crimes of the deepest dye, 
which had resulted from their use, — of the fearful desecration 
of God's ordinances, — of the violation of His Sabbaths, — of 
the hindrance to the spread of the Gospel amongst heathen 
nations, and the followers of the false prophet who deemed it 
unlawful to drink of alcoholic liquors, — of the impious associa- 
tion of the thrice holy name of Immanuel with " the poison of 
dragons and the cruel venom of asps," — above all, of the per- 
version of the plain doctrine of both the Old and New Testa- 
ments, which distinctly forbids the use of wine and strong- 
drink in man's normal state of health ; and, putting base false- 
hoods into the mouth of his beloved Lord, who has so explicitly 
expressed His will, that " unfermented fruit of the vine " shall 
be used at His supper ; and thence infer and enforce the duty 
of i?istanta?ieous repentance and return to the use of that fruit 
as the sole symbol of His blood to be used at His table. That he 
would refer to the original institution as recorded by Matthew, 
Mark and Luke, there can be no doubt, as well as to the reve- 



252 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

lation made to himself, and say: " Thus it is written, ' Drink 
ye all of it — the unfer merited fruit of the vine ;' " and he 
might shew (as has been done in a former letter,) how frequently 
and emphatically this command issued from the pure lips of 
Him of whom it was said : " Never man spake like this man ;" 
" Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth." 

Is it not possible that he might refer to the expulsion of 
" those that sold oxen, and sheep and doves, and the changers 
of money from the temple," by our Lord; and, in doing so, 
show how much greater the sin with which they were chargeable 
was, than that of which those men were guilty. 

In meditating upon this subject, and giving reins to my 
imagination, I have sometimes thought that a closer analogy 
would have been displayed between the cruel practice of dis- 
pensing a loathsome, poisonous liquor to communicants at the 
Lord's supper, as the symbol of Christ's blood, — if, instead of 
the case being as it was enacted, and is recorded in the sacred 
Scriptures, when Jesus drove the defilers of the temple from 
its sacred precincts, that filthy creature, the sow — the type of 
idolatrous worship — had been immolated as a sacred victim, by 
the priests, upon the altar of burnt offering at Jerusalem ! 

I may now advert to the views of Professor Moses Stuart, 
and Mr. Stubbin, of Birmingham, upon this subject, — and with 
them, conclude this letter: " But Paul's account of the Lord's 
supper at Corinth, (I Cor. xi, 18-34,) clearly shows that intoxi- 
cating wine was employed, — 4 One is hungry and another is 
drunken^ " 

Truly it does, if our translators have hit the mark. But 
allowing for a moment that they have, does Paul approve of the 
Corinthian practice ? He says expressly that he condemns it. 
We might rest the case here, then, without farther animadver- 
sion. But I am not persuaded that our translation does justice 
to the Corinthian church; very strange — passing strange it 
would be, if a church so gifted and so famous went to the sacra- 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 253 

mental table in order to celebrate the orgies of Bacchus. The 
simple state of the case seems to be, that the Corinthians kept 
a love-feast on sacramental occasions. Thither some carried 
plenty of provision and drink, and ate and drank to the full; 
while the poor in the church could not do this, and were thus 
put to shame by the richer class. One is hungry — this is the 
poor man ; another, methuei, drinks to the full — this is the richer 
man. That the word may mean gets drunk, I do not deny. 
That it must mean so, I do deny. Its etymology shows the 
real meaning. Methu means sweet wine, and most naturally, 
therefore, u?i fermented wine. Methuo is a denominative verb 
formed from it, and means to partake of methu, — and, very 
naturally, in the second place, to partake freely of it. But as 
to being drunken, that is another question. A free partaking 
of the sweet wine would make no man drunk. The indecorum 
complained of, lay in the feasting on the one hand, and the 
starvation (so to speak,) on the other. Paul lays his hand upon 
the whole proceeding, and prohibits public love-feasts, as con- 
nected with the Lord's supper.* 

" The best explanation which the author has seen of the 
passage, is in an edition of the Greek Testament, with English 
notes, by the Rev. S. T. Bloomfield, D. D., F. A. S. He says : 
& To idion deipnon, denotes the supper which each one had 
brought, as his own contribution to the common meal. Pro- 
lamb anei, has reference to the eagerness with which each one 
(of the richer sort, we may presume,) snatched up the food 
which he had brought (and that, no doubt, a plentiful portion,) 
and filled himself therewith, before the poorer sort could well 
touch it : which would cause them (who had brought little 
or nothing,) to fare very scantily. And as this (which is to be 
understood of the agapai, accompanying, and at times preced- 
ing the Lord's supper,) was not a common meal, it was a viola- 

* Scriptural View of the Wine Question, in a Letter to the Rev. Dr. Nott, 
by M. Stuart, Professor in the Theological Seminary, at Andover: p. 54. 

22 



254 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

tion of 'propriety, as well as Christian charity, so to act ; for 
though each brought his own supper, yet when it had been 
thrown to the common stock, it ceased to be his own. Thus, 
the plenty of some, shamed the want of others ; which would 
occasion heart-burnings, and so defeat the end of the Lord's 
supper. It is remarked by the ancient commentators, that the 
ratio oppositi requires the word methuei to be interpreted of 
satiety, in both drinking and eating. We need not understand 
any drunkenness or gluttony; nay, the very words of the verse 
following — me gar oikias . . . pinein — forbid this. The 
fault with which they are charged, is gross selfishness at a meal 
united with the eucharistical one, and formed on such principles 
of Christian charity and brotherly communion, as would be a 
proper supplement or introduction to it." # 

It is the opinion of these eminent men, and of other learned 
commentators, that it was a love-feast to which the Apostle 
referred. It does not become me to speak dogmatically upon 
the subject after them. The decision either way, whether for 
the feast referred to being all that was deemed by the Corinthi- 
ans as the Lord's supper, or for its being a love-feast, preceding 
or following that ordinance, will not materially affect the cause 
of anti-alcoholic temperance. If it was a corrupted Lord's 
supper, and all that stood for the true one, as I am inclined to 
believe, (for I see not a word about a love-feast in the chapter, 
or in any other part of Scripture except Jude,) there is nothing 
to show that intoxicating wine was used at it, as manifested in 
the conduct of the guests or the language of the Apostle, but 
the reverse ; and, if it was a love-feast, there is the same lack 
of evidence of which the Alcoholic School could avail them- 
selves, in support of their doctrine. Perhaps the opinion, that 
it was a love-feast with wine, but not alcoholic wine, (and it is 
almost certain that wine would be used at it preparatory to, or 
after the Lord's supper,) would be more in favor of the reign 

* Tirosh Lo Yayin : p. 154. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 255 

of total abstinence principles amongst the respectable inhabi- 
tants of Juclea, than the other opinion — which seems to me the 
more probable. 

I am, my dear brother, 

Yours most affectionately, 

JOHN MAIE. 



LETTER V. 

My Dear Brother, 

By some it has been objected to Teetotalism, 
that it demands too much of its disciples, by others not enough. 
The former plead for moderation in the use of alcohol, which 
we have found to be a phantom; the latter opine that if men 
abstain from alcoholic liquors they will fall into some other 
course of sensual indulgence, such as the use of opium, or some 
other narcotic drug equally destructive of health, and ruinous 
of reputation, if not so productive of crime. Again, the charge 
has been brought against Teetotalism by that most influential 
paper the London Times, that " It won't do to come before a 
jovial drinking community with a new commandment, ' Thou 
shalt not drink wine.' This is no age for prohibitions. Ma- 
homet understood men better. He was a Teetotaler, but his 
was no mere negative doctrine. He provided plenty of com- 
pensation for that one denial — sense, ambition, fancy, and even 
reason had their gratifications. What are the positive attrac- 
tions of the Temperance cause ? They have yet to be shown." 
We do not intend entering the lists of controversy with one or 
other of these objectors. The two first we would point " to 
the law and to the testimony," and say, " if, after diligent and 
prayerful search (we address ourselves to Christians) you do 
not find Teetotalism in the Bible, attach no great importance 
to it; if you do, disregard it at your peril." To the Times 
we would say, " You are somewhat inconsistent, for while you 



256 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

appear to sneer at Teetotalisni in the passage quoted above, in 
your paper of 11th March, 1857, you remark (as previously 
noticed) that " opium is in the same category as wine, or gin, 
or tobacco. Are our distillers enemies to their race — are the 
planters of Virginia and Cuba to be denounced — are France 
and Spain no longer to send in the produce of their vineyard 
because the people drink more than is good for them ? If the 
moderate use of these is to be allowed, why should we pour in- 
vectives against those who sell the production, which is the 
equivalent of them (opium) to 300,000,000 of men?"* To the 
Times, thus speaking, we would address ourselves in the follow- 
ing terms : " In principle you seem to be one with us. You 
have your doubts about the rectitude of the moderate use of to- 
bacco, gin and wine, as indicated by your use of the conjunc- 
tion If. AYe have more than doubts. We are convinced that 
it is wrong, in man's normal state of health. You talk in a 
strain somewhat ironical; yet you admit that alcohol, the intoxi- 
cating principle of gin and wine, is a poison, although you do 
not explicitly say so, for you include it in the same category 
with opium, which all admit to be a poison. We call alcohol 
the type of a large class of poisons named emphatically and 
expressively brain poisons, because they are peculiarly distin- 
guished from other poisons by exerting a deleterious influence 
upon the brain, and through it upon the mind of man. The 
Bible has given us reasons for the interdict of wine and strong 
drink : in other words, alcoholic liquors in man's normal state 
of health. It is not because certain things are termed wine 
and strong drink that they are forbidden in the Bible, but be- 
cause the things called wine and strong drink possess certain 
qualities rendering them hurtful, particularly endangering and 
tending to destroy the noble faculties which distinguish man 
from the lower animals, such as reason, conscience, &c. But 

* The Times, in advocating Mr. Gladstone's wine bill, admitted that wine 
was a poisonous drink, but less so than gin. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 257 

if it be not on account of the names given to these substances, 
but their deleterious qualities, that they are forbidden in the 
Bible, must it not be evident to every one capable of right 
thinking and judging, that other substances possessing like 
qualities must, from the nature of the case, be interdicted by 
the same paramount authority, just because they possess similar 
qualities? for it was on account of the qualities, and not the 
names that the wine and strong drink were primarily prohibited 
in the Holy Scriptures. We conclude, then, that alcohol, be- 
cause of its peculiarly seductive and destructive qualities, has 
been specially interdicted in the Bible, as the type of all brain 
poisons, and that it affords us not only an admirable index to 
other poisons of the same class, such as opium, tobacco, bel- 
ladonna, &c, from the fact that its deleterious effects are most 
fully and graphically described in Holy Writ, but also pre- 
sents itself when viewed in the light of revelation in its 
most criminal aspects, as a friendly monitor, to guard us against 
imposition from similar crafty foes; so that God, in his infinite 
wisdom and goodness, thus educes good from evil, and extracts 
salutary nourishment from deadly poison." 

We trust it will now be plainly perceived that the Anti- alco- 
holic Temperance of the Bible, as we have taken the liberty of 
calling it, is far superior to the Teetotalism of the : world. In- 
deed, it would now seem that a name still more comprehensive 
might be given to the grand principles of Bible Temperance, 
which we have endeavored to trace from small beginnings to a 
mighty system of truth. But if it be understood that alcohol 
is the type of all brain poisons, and that the name A nti-a!co~ 
holic Tem.perance is intended to convey the meaning that they 
are all forbidden in Holy Writ, it will suffice. 

Who has any just cause of complaint against this God-like 
system of truth ? Is it noiv seen to be too restrictive of an 
appetite which, when at all yielded to, is so apt to end in ruin 
of both soul and bodv ? Or is it now seen to be too limited in 



253 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

its range, when, according to the showing of the Times, it 
comprehends within its embrace both tobacco and opium? and 
we contend that all brain poisons are included under it. Again, 
what of the melancholy wail of the same mighty journalist, re- 
specting want of compensation for self denial, in contrast with 
the liberality of the false prophet ! Does that self denial 
amount to much, which seems to him so hard to bear ? while 
" sense, ambition, fancy and even reason had their gratifications " 
under the Mali omme dan creed. 

What are the positive attractions of the Temperance cause ? 
We do not now speak of the attractions of Teetotalism apart 
from the Bible. We apprehend it is not possessed of many. 
But we have no hesitation in proclaiming the truth, that the 
system of Temperance which we maintain — that of the Holy 
Scriptures — is possessed of innumerable precious attractions, 
fiowing from divers sources with which those of the Koran can- 
not compare. Surely there are gratifications to be found in a 
sound mind, a pure heart and a clear conscience ; and who will 
take upon himself to say — that abstinence, not from alcoholic 
liquors only, but from all other brain poisons also, has nothing 
whatever to do with securing these blessings ? But even on 
the low ground of sensual gratification, I will ask the popular 
journalist if there be not more real pleasure, with less pain, in 
drinking of " the pure fruit of the vine," squeezed into water, 
than in gulping down the stuff called wine with twenty-two 
per cent of alcohol, besides other nameless poisons ? and this 
pure fruit of the vine is what we would recommend on Bible 
authority as a beverage where it can be had, or the preserved 
fruit when it cannot. But there is a higher class of enjoy- 
ments still than even that held out to us, of a sound mind, a 
pure heart and a clear conscience. It is intimate, holy com- 
munion with our reconciled Father in Christ Jesus — it is ascent 
into the highest heavens upon the wings of faith, and rejoicing 
in the contemplation of redeeming love, with angels and the 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 259 

spirits of just men made perfect, in the presence of Him who 
loved us and gave Himself for us. "But we are come unto 
Mount Sion and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly 
Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the 
general assembly and church of the first born, which are writ- 
ten in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits 
of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the 
new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh 
better things than that of Abel." These are some of " the 
positive attractions and gratified! ions" which are associated 
with partaking of " the pure blood of the grape," as the emblem 
of the Redeemer's blood, instead of "fire water;" and which 
are intimately connected with the system of anti-alcoholic Tem- 
perance, to be found clearly revealed in the Holy Scriptures ; and 
we ask the Times, if they do not surpass any or all " the 
attractions and gratifications" which a Mahommedan paradise 
can present to stir up to emulation the most zealous Mussulman, 
at least in the estimate of a humble disciple of the meek and 
lowly Jesus ? 

To illustrate what a horror the sensitive, sin-hating soul of 
the renewed man has of strong drink, let us narrate the follow- 
ing anecdote, in connexion with revivals in Ireland : " One 
youth I knew of, went down upon his knees as usual to pray 
before going to bed. His mind had been somewhat impressed, 
but a friend had persuaded him to join in some strong drink in 
a very moderate way. As he was praying, or at least repeating 
the language of prayer, the thought struck him, can I speak to 
God with the smell of strong drink upon my breath ? No ! 
From that hour he wholly abandoned it." * 

I could quote from the Enquirer several most remarkable 
cases of fearful conscientious struggle in persons obliged to 
partake of intoxicating wine at the communion (with the effects 

* Irish Correspondent in New York Independent. 



260 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

of relapse into drunkenness in some who ventured), or deny 
themselves a high Christian privilege, but time and space 
forbid. 

I take this opportunity, however, of entreating you to repub- 
lish the thrilling narratives to which I refer. They ought to 
be universally read, and pondered by every Christian man and 
woman every where. 

Some of the blessings of total abstinence may be judged of 
from the following testimonies of eminent ministers of the 
Gospel. The Rev. Mr. Jay says : "lam thankful that all 
through life I have been a very temperate man, and for more 
than twenty-five years generally a teetotaler ; but for the last 
six years I have been one constantly and entirely. To this 
(now I am past 70) I ascribe, under God, the glow of health 
and evenness of spirits, and freshness of feeling, and ease of 
application, and comparative inexhaustion by public labors I 
now enjoy. The subject of teetotalism I have examined phy- 
sically and morally, and Christianly, and after all my reading 
and reflection, and observation, and experience, I have reached 
a very firm and powerful conviction, that next to ' the glorious 
Gospel' God could not bless the human race so much as by the 
abolition of all intoxicating spirits." That would not be in 
the order of God's providence, but He enjoins upon man the 
duty of preventing fruits from going into the vinous fermenta- 
tion, as it appears to us (except for medicinal or extra vital 
purposes), or if they have done so without his helping hand, 
to avoid using the alcoholic product, and thus man's forethought 
and ingenuity are exercised, and his faith and submission to 
the divine authority tested. The Rev. R. Knill said: "J 
wish your correspondent may reap as many advantages from 
teetotalism as I have done, and still continue to do. There is 
scarce a day passes but I bless God for the plan I have 
adopted ; and I trust I shall bear my testimony to the advan- 
tages of teetotalism, even upon a dying bed. I believe few 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 261 

men labor so much, so constantly, and with so little fatigue. I 
thank the Lord for an ability to work; and if my life is spared, 
I intend to work more than ever ; and I am persuaded that 
teetotalism will, through the Divine blessing, help me to per- 
form it." 

The Burke murders in Edinburgh and the murder of the 
Italian boy in London, for anatomical purposes ; the Essex 
poisonings of infants by their mothers, for the sake of the fune- 
ral expenses, to be recovered from benefit funds to which they 
had subscribed ; the frequent cases of poisoning of persons by 
their husbands, or other near relatives, possessing policies of 
their insured lives, are melancholy proofs of awful demoraliza- 
tion, scarcely to be paralleled for atrocity in the annals of the 
most barbarous tribes, where the light of Christianity never 
dawned ! 

We are inclined to trace them up to their source in a misin- 
terpretation, misunderstanding, and consequent neglect of the 
Bible law of Temperance, which we have endeavored to show, 
is clearly laid down, in a variety of intelligible forms in the 
Holy Scriptures, and to the merciless substitution of intoxicat- 
ing (impoisoned) wine for the pure fruit of the vine, the 
appointed symbol of Jesus' blood, and the true antidote of 
Alcoholic Intemperance ! 

To the same prolific parent we also trace, up the opium curse 
in China, and much of the deadness, lukewarmness and indiffe- 
rence to religion amongst the masses, in addition to the chief 
part of the offences (before referred to), for which expulsion of 
members from churches and depositions of ministers from the 
sacred office take place ! These are, no doubt, appalling events 
(and we have merely touched upon a few, for their name is 
legion), but they need not excite much wonderment when it is 
remembered what a flagrant violation, or rather an uninterrupted 
succession of gross violations of the Divine law, forbidding the 
use of alcoholic liquors, and especially at the Lord's table, has 



262 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

been committed for ages past (with hardly a single exception 
till within the last twenty years) in all the churches of Chris- 
tendom. It rather should have been cause for astonishment if 
numerous falls amongst ministers and members of churches, 
and innumerable crimes had not occurred, when alcoholic 
liquors have been all but Deified, instead of being treated as 
under the ban of God's holy law. 

"We have no hope whatever of any general Temperance refor- 
mation until such time as intoxicating liquors are for ever 
banished from the house of God, as insulting to His Divine 
Majesty, and productive of the greatest evil to mankind. 

May God hasten this blessed consummation so devoutly to 
be desired, in His good time. 

I am, my dear brother, in gospel bonds, 

Yours most affectionately, 

JOHN MAIE. 



LETTER VI. 

My Dear Brother, 

The next question to be touched upon is a tho- 
roughly practical one. I refer to the possibility of supplying 
unfermented wine for domestic and religious purposes. Not 
long ago a highly-esteemed minister of the Gospel, in a letter 
to a friend of mine, threw out the doubt — whether wine could 
be preserved unfermented, in a warm climate, such as Judea ? 
To this suspicion I would simply reply, by referring to the 
writings of Columella, Cato, Pliny, Theophrastus and other 
ancient authors, who have discoursed more or less copiously upon 
the means of preserving wines free from fermentation, and have 
abundantly proved that it was practicable to do so in their days; 
and if the ancients could provide themselves with unfermented, 
unintoxicating wines, ignorant as they were of chemistry, surely 
it would be a reproach to Christendom if, with vast stores of 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 263 

information upon all the arts of life, her chemists and wine 
producers could not accomplish the same object. But the 
respected gentleman, of whom I have spoken, could not have 
consulted the standard writers of modern times upon the sub- 
ject, otherwise he would have learned that unfermented wines 
have been and can be obtained in the nineteenth century, if the 
necessary pains be taken in any part of the globe. 

Graham, in his Elements of Chemistry, says: " The action 
of yeast and all other ferments is destroyed by the tempera- 
ture at which water boils, by alcohol, by acids, salts of mercury, 
sulphurous acid, chlorine, iodine, bromine, by aromatic sub- 
stances, volatile oils, and particularly empyreumatic oils, 
smoke and decoction of coffee, these bodies, in some instances, 
combining with the ferments, or otherwise effecting their decom- 
position." I believe that a rich reward would attend the labors 
of any operative and scientific chemist who should devote his 
attention to the investigation of the various methods by which 
the juice of the grape might be preserved untainted, with its 
fine flavor, and free from fermentation, for a period of time, 
anticipating the blessed era when the world shall be filled with 
" the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover 
the sea;" and when it is impossible that " the wine which 
biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder" can any longer 
be admitted into the sanctuary, or be patronised by the church 
of Christ. The preceding remarks were in manuscript before 
these letters were commenced. I have been glad to find that 
some progress has been made in the preparation of unfermented 
wine since they were committed to paper. I have already 
referred to the advertisement of Freeman and Wright of unfer- 
mented wine for sacramental purposes, in a foot note, and I 
have now much pleasure in referring to a note of Dr. Lees, in 
his pamphlet entitled the " Rotheram Discussion," to the follow- 
ing effect : " We were favored with the possession of three 
bottles of this wine (from Mr. Delavan). This day, December 



264 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

23, 1858, nearly twenty years after 'the wine was made/ we 
have had the last bottle opened, and find it just as pure and 
unchanged as it was sixteen years ago. It is vino cotto, or 
inspissated wine." 

It affords me additional gratification to bring before you the 
following very interesting and important suggestions of my 
excellent friend, Mr. Bonwick, the highly respected Inspector 
of Schools of the colony of Victoria, now on a philanthropic 
mission on the continent of Europe, in regard to wines and other 
fermented and alcoholic liquors. He is in Switzerland, at the 
vintage season, or as he beautifully terms it, " the very land of 
harmony, the region of popular choral sounds," when, with the 
utmost naivete, he thus speaks : 

"It is a joyous season, this egrappage, or stripping of the 
vines. All hearts are merry. Even the children sport about 
in unusual f riskiness, and smiles beam from faces everywhere. 
No fruit has ever been so admired in all eyes as the grape. The 
Bible especially places it and its produce among the choicest of 
blessings. Those of the cold and sterile north have little 
appreciation of the charms of this cooling fruit beneath the 
scorching of a more elevated sun, and the delight with which 
its advent is hailed by the country peasant or the city lord. 
Smiles beget smiles, and I feel my heart expand with gladness 
in the pleasure of those around me. 

"Then comes the reaction upon me. Though I know I am 
not among a people so delighting in potent liquor as my own 
countrymen — though I know that their very frugal habits are 
opposed to dissipation — though I know that the vast majority 
of the wines produced for home consumption here will be little 
worse than the small beer of England — yet, when I see the 
introduction of alcohol, that fierce destroyer of life and joy, in 
any guise, in any quantity, I know it is so seductive in nature 
as to give honey to the lip, but gall to the heart; and sadness 
comes over me then amidst the laughter of the vineyard, and 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 265 

I am almost tempted to applaud the stern monarch of olden 
days who laid waste the vine hills of his people. 

"Then comes another thought. What if these gushing purple 
streams were to be converted into the real offspring of the 
grape ! What if, when the saccharine liquor came oozing from 
beneath the press, so joyously luscious in its prime, it should 
be preserved in the best sense of the term ! What if instead 
of permitting, under the warm temperature and its more liquid 
condition, fermentation as a rotting, decomposing agency, to 
set in, the sweet juice were preserved in its normal, safe and 
nutritious state for the food and delight of man ! What if, 
instead of being dreaded and feared by the good, and taken so 
carefully by the sober, it should be so that we might have again 
the drink for tender infancy, as wholesome and as welcome as 
milk ; and again the invigorating, strengthening and beautify- 
ing draught, the " new wine for maids!" How, then, should 
we all be gladdened when the fair bunches plump forth their 
sweetness, and sing praises to our father for his gift of the 
vine ! 

"And why cannot this be ? What prevents the indulgence cf 
this pleasant dream ? Is it difficult to manufacture such a 
wine ? Not at all. We have but to follow the ancient sys- 
tem* — either reduce the liquidity, or keep down the tempera- 
ture — and the produce is there. Why, then, is this not done, 
when its flavor is confessedly so good, when medical men all 
agree that it is so nutritious, and when the youngest may par- 
take of it with no more need of parental caution than when he 
raises to his lips a bowl of milk ? The secret is this — the wine 
makers must regard the taste of the wine buyers, and these 
have no fancy for the juice in its natural condition. It is not 
something nice and wholesome only they require, but that 
which is stimulating to excitement. The liquor must inflame 
the brain ; it must give a glow to the frame ; it must rouse the 

animal nature ; it must raise the impulsive feeling; : it must 
23 



266 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

enkindle the fire of those lower passions, in whose gratification 
our greatest mere earthly pleasure exists. It is found that 
above all substances, all poisons, that which is most productive 
in these results is alcohol. The mere brutal man will have it 
in its more undisguised form. He will burn his intestines with 
whiskey, gin, brandy. Others, who want the pleasure extended, 
who will have quantity with quality, and who prefer flavor in 
addition, will be content with alcoholic beer and alcoholic wine. 
Some may be satisfied with but a slight percentage of the 
spirituous element, and desire only an agreeable drink. These 
take the light beers and wines. But with these there is still 
the fear, from the entrancing nature of that alcohol, that in 
the increase of taste, or in the growth of years, they may rise 
in the scale of strength, till they plunge into the cup of ardent 
spirits. Hence it is that wines must be fermented now. 

"But is there no probability of returning to the primitive sys- 
tem, or of adopting the unfermented juice of the vine ? I think 
there is. But then, this must be done in a wine country, and 
for a people who are what are now denominated " Teetotalers." 
On the continent I see little chance of such a drink being 
made for themselves. Yet were there a demand for it in Bri- 
tain, the wine growers would be too happy to provide a supply 
for the rich islanders. There is no fear but they would soon 
know how to prepare it, and that in the best manner. The 
cold French grape is not suitable. It must be the richer juice 
from the warmer hills of Italy and Spain. The limestone slopes 
of Palestine, once so renowned for its grapes, would again be 
clothed with the clustering tendrils, did such a market arise. 
Instead of Mr. Gladstone being the great lover of his species, 
in procuring the introduction of cheap French wines, that man 
would be the true patriot of Britain who should be the means 
of bringing to the cottagers of his country so harmless, and 
yet so luscious a drink as we Teetotalers could take. To do 
this we know a taste must be awakened for it. Now is the 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 267 

time. The Temperance success has given us ample materials. 
It is idle to say, as many do, there is no occasion for it, and 
that a substitution for alcoholic drinks is unnecessary. I contend 
that there is occasion for it, and that a substitute is, with our 
growing taste for luxuries, absolutely necessary. As I have 
lived nearly twenty years in a warm climate, I know the crav- 
ing for something more than water, especially when it is too 
often the case in warm latitudes that the water is so indifferent 
as to compel one to adopt some means of altering its flavor. 
Hence it is that in our colonies so much tea is consumed, the 
cups being introduced at every meal. But one is not always 
prepared for hot drinks, and the convenience for procuring 
them is not always at hand. Hence, as on the continent, the 
cheaper wines are so largely used ; while, in Britain, it is the 
beer, or the spirit put in to kill the water. 

4 'If, then, there is this natural craving, or, it may be an edu- 
cational want, is it wise for us Temperance Reformers sternly 
to rebuke the people for their lustful propensities, or move 
philosophically and benevolently, to seek to satisfy this feeling 
in such a way as to promote social enjoyment, without any risk 
to virtue ? 

"The next thing is, how is it to be done ? The drink must be 
cheap as well as agreeable. * It must be easy of access to the 
consumer. To accomplish this, capital is requisite. The orga- 
nization must be strong and effective. Relations must be judi- 
ciously entertained and maintained. The produce field will be, 
as I have said, the shores of the Mediterranean. Spain, Italy, 
Greece and Syria are all easy of reach by our steamers. Their 
present wines, from their very sweetness, are unpalatable to our 
English lovers of well-toned port; but they prove that the 
grape has pre-eminently the quality to produce the luscious 
tonic and wholesome beverage whose interests I plead. 

"I bring forward these views from the vine-clad borders of 
Lake Geneva, in the hope that some united and vigorous effort 



268 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

will be made to satisfy what I believe to be a want of the pre- 
sent day." 

That some danger is admitted in the use of the most mode- 
rate of modern wines will appear from the following testimony 
of a Swiss writer upon wines in the last century : — He says : 
" As the property of the spirit in wine is to rarefy in the different 
parts to which it is carried, and to rarefy the liquids which it 
finds there, it follows that when it is in too great abundance it 
dilutes the parts beyond measure. They act no more with the 
same ease as before ; so much so that the equilibrium which 
governs the solids and fluids would be deranged. This is what 
one sees happening to those who drink too much wine ; their 
head becomes heavy, their eyes are troubled, their limbs trem- 
ble, and their phrenzies prove only too much this disorder. 
But without drinking wine to this extent, it always happens, 
when one drinks much, that the membranes and vessels of the 
brain are more extended than they ought to be, sinking at last, 
by that reiterated effort, into a relaxation which will no more 
permit them to recover their first action; that which would 
necessarily interrupt the secretions and carry much mischief to 
body and mind." It is with such a caution that Citoyen Rey- 
mondin, of Lausanne, introduces his subject of the manufacture 
of wines. If such care be needed in the use of these light 
grape wines, what should be said of those strong narcotic 
excitants called wines, but without the aid of the grape, in 
common consumption with our countrymen ? 

It is therefore on the highest of moral grounds that I urge 
the adoption of that wine which is associated in Isaiah with the 
blessings of the Gospel, in contradistinction to that other wine 
even then associated with what was vile and degrading. Instead, 
however, of entering upon this vexed question of. Scripture 
wines, let us be at least content to follow such learned authors 
upon wine-making as Pliny and Columella, and prepare, accord- 
ing to their recipes such drinks as cannot, from the nature of 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 269 

« 

things, be intoxicating, and yet be both agreeable to taste and 
satisfactory to health. Let friends of Temperance, and friends 
of humanity, seek to work out this problem, so interesting to 
the real happiness of our social state, and to the moral progres- 
sion of our people. # 

If these suggestions are cordially received, and energetically 
acted upon, they will tend powerfully, with the blessing of God, 
to remove the prejudices which now axist against the use of 
unfermented wine as the symbol of Christ's most precious sin- 
atoning blood at His table, and thus greatly facilitate the 
spread of the Gospel amongst the followers of Mahomet, Brah- 
ma, and Buddha. 

I am, my dear brother, 

Yours most affectionately, 

JOHN MAIR. 



letter vii. 

My Dear Brother, 

I should wish, before concluding, to say a 
few words on " the place and power" of anti-alcoholic tempe- 
rance in the Christian System. It is a hackneyed phrase 
among the teetotalers of expediency, that teetotalism is not 
Christianity; and among the extreme teetotalers of the secular 
stamp, hardly anything will take but teetotalism, as if it were 
the sum total of religion. 

The teetotalism of expediency is certainly, as taught by its 
professors, far, far remote from Christianity. It is founded 
upon false principles, — does not possess Divine authority over 
conscience, — lacks evangelical motives, — has not the expansive 
energy of true religion, — and does not recognise the threefold 
duty of abstinence from alcohol in relation to God, self and 
neighbor. (See Letter I.) 

* The Alliance Weekly News, November 17, 1860. 



270 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

, * .. 

It is equally remote from the truth, that secular teetotalism 
is the whole of Christianity, or that it is sufficient of itself to 
enfranchise a man from the thraldom of sin and Satan, although 
superior to the other in this respect, — that it acknowledges 
alcohol to be a poison to be avoided by man in his normal state 
of health. Indeed, it cannot be received as a part of the 
Christian System any more than the former, because Christ is 
not acknowledged as essential to its existence, or His law to its 
success. Let us endeavor to ascertain 

First, What is the Place ; and 

Second. What is the Power of Anti-alcoholic Temperance 
in the Christian System: 

1st. The Place of Ant i- alcoholic Temperance in the Chris- 
tian System. — The place held (or rather to be held,) in the 
Christian System, by anti-alcoholic temperance, is an important 
and well denned one. 

Under the head of precepts or commandments, it may be 
viewed in different phases : 

(1st.) In relation to God, — ranging itself under the first 
table of the Law. 

(2d.) In relation to the individual, — ranging itself under the 
second table of the Law. 

(3d.) In relation to the species, — ranging itself under the 
second table of the Law. 

Again, under each of these heads, there are special relations 
to be considered ; as e. g., under the 1st to God, as " the only 
true God," (1st Commandment,) whom we are bound to worship 
and glorify as such, — abstinence from alcohol being conducive 
to such worship, and the use of it opposed to it; to the worship 
of God by images, &c, (2d Commandment); to the taking of 
God's name in vain, (3d Commandment) ; to hallowing the 
Sabbath, (4th Commandment) ; to the due observance of all of 
which in like manner, abstinence from alcohol is conducive, 
and the use of it opposed; an 1 , therefore, such abstinence is 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 271 

enjoined, and such use forbidden in man's normal state of 
health. 

We might proceed to point out the relations subsisting 
between the anti-alcoholic law and all the commandments 
included under the second table, in reference to the individual, 
and the species, — and show that it has an evident bearing upon 
each ; and also, upon the sum of the commandments of the first 
table, (through the second,) every sin against the creature 
being also a sin against the Creator, — a truth most strikingly 
brought out in the fifty-first psalm, where David in an agony 
of remorse, exclaims : "Against Thee, Thee only have I sinned, 
and done this evil in thy sight." 

But anti-alcoholic temperance or total abstinence from alco- 
holic liquors in man's normal state of health, may also be 
viewed doctrinally ; and, it is in this aspect, as well as in the 
aspect of a law of God, that the Bible System we have endea- 
vored to direct attention to, is so remarkably distinguished from 
the teetotalism of expediency, and that of secularism. 

We hold, then, not only that abstinence from alcoholic liquors 
and all other brain poisons is a part of God's revealed Law ; 
but, also, that it is a doctrine of the Bible, that when that law 
is believed on as emanating from God, and acted on from evan- 
gelical motives, a grace of the Holy Spirit is exercised, well- 
pleasing to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. In short, we 
believe that such anti-alcoholic temperance forms part of the 
temperance referred to Gal. v, 23, in the following words : 
" Meekness, temperance : against such there is no law." 

2d. The Power of Ant i- alcoholic Temperance in the Chris- 
tian System. — It is a power that will "remove mountains;" 
just because it is the power of God, as is the power of every 
grace of the Spirit. What mountains ? Mountains of men's 
prejudices and passions, — mountains of men's diseases and 
crimes, — mountains of delirium tremens, and spontaneous com- 
bustion, — mountains of family broils, onslaughts and murders, — 



272 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

mountains of revels, poisonings, Sabbath and sanctuary desecra- 
tions, — mountains of scandals and excommunications of church 
members and of depositions of ministers, — mountains of curses, 
oaths and blasphemies which pollute the atmosphere, from the 
mouths of drinkers, — mountains of animosity against the truth 
as it is in Jesus, amongst Brahmins, Mahomedans — and other 
teetotalers — (one-fifth of the population of the globe,) — moun- 
tains of money, gold and silver, squandered away upon alcoholic 
liquors, — mountains of wholesome food transformed into deadly 
poison, — mountains of conflagrations of men, houses, ships, 
manufactories, &c, — mountains of poverty, squalor, wretched- 
ness and woe ! But where should we stop ? We might go on 
ad infinitum, heaping mountains upon mountains ; for who can 
tell the sufferings of those doomed to eternal misery in the fire 
which never shall be quenched, whose destruction has been 
caused by alcohol ? Suffice it then to say, that we have no 
doubt whatever, that when the Bible doctrine of anti-alcoholic 
temperance shall have thoroughly permeated the church, it will 
extend itself to individuals, families and states ; that it will 
become a constituent principle of all sound jurisprudence ; in 
short, that it will bring about a wide-spread reformation of 
morals, — exercise a most beneficial influence upon health, — 
tend greatly to promote the comfort and well-being of all 
classes, — and above all, give the glory to God in Christ, which 
has been so long withheld from Him. 

I am, my beloved friend, 
Yours ever, 

JOHN MAIR. 



LETTER VIII. 

My Dear Brother, 

In your letter to me, of date February 14, 
1859, you say: "I feel that we can make but little progress 
further, until the church cuts loose from the poison. I have 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 273 

said so to Mr. Dow, and others, — leading friends of total 
abstinence." 

Has the church been awakened to a sense of her duty since 
that time, in America or Europe, in regard to the crying evils 
of alcoholic intemperance, so as to seek out and apply the only 
effectual remedy which can be found for them, as it is revealed 
in the Holy Scriptures ? I apprehend not, to any considerable 
extent. It is true, that in Canada, the year before your letter 
was penned, the Synod of the Presbyterian Church " called 
for the Report of the Presbytery of Cobourg, on the Petition 
of Dr. Mair, of Kingston, remitted to that Presbytery by last 
Synod, on the subject of the use of intoxicating wine at the 
Lord's table. The report was given in and read. On motion 
made and seconded, the Synod agreed to receive and adopt the 
report, in so far as it states that the agitation of this question 
does not tend to edification ; and further recommends to the 
office-bearers of the church to endeavor to procure, for sacra- 
mental use, the purest wine within their reach." # 

In 1852, the Conference of the Wesleyan Methodist Church 
in Canada, passed the following resolution : 

"Resolved, That this Conference enjoins upon each of the 
preachers not to use, in the administration of the Lord's supper, 
any kind of mixture as a substitute for the generally acknow- 
ledged port wine of the country; as no mixture, which is not 
acknowledged by authority as wine, can be regarded as one of 
the elements in the holy sacrament ; and, as the legally acknow- 
ledged port wine in the country, (whether pure or impure,) is 
the most expressive symbol attainable, of the precious blood of 
our Lord Jesus Christ." 

In 1858, if I am not mistaken, this strange edict was rescinded 
by another Conference, and leave granted to preachers to use pure 
wine, the produce of the Province (i. e., I believe fermented 

* The Minutes of the Synod of the Presbyterian Church of Canada, June, 
1858: p. 19. 



274 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

grape-juice, unenforced by alcohol. ) # What is the signifi- 
cance of these events ? Do they tend to show a disposition 
to yield to the arguments and entreaties of earnest men who 
cannot, for conscience sake, drink of intoxicating wine at the 
Lord's supper ; or, a fixed determination to cleave to " the cup 
wherein is excess," and not listen to statements of facts or 
reasonings against it ? Whether or no, it amounts to the same 
thing as far as true-hearted, Bible- taught abstainers from alco- 
holic liquors are concerned ; for it is a grand principle they are 
contending for, and they are as much shut out from the table of 
their Lord by the use of wine with one per cent as twenty per 
cent of alcohol. 

It is certainly hard work to rouse the dormant churches to a 
sense of their duty and their clanger. One would imagine that 
the light you, Mr. Bonwick, and others, have thrown on the 
drunkenness to be found in wine countries, from wine drinking— 
in addition to the astounding disclosures from various quarters 
respecting the horrible adulterations of what are called wines, 
from divers poisonous substances — might have had an effect in 
making them at least eager to investigate the subject thoroughly, 
so that they might find out the truth, and follow it. I know 
little of their having done so. The following facts seem to 
lean rather to the opposite side of the question : 

In the Address of the Personal Abstinence Society, to the 
Ministers of the United Presbyterian Church in Scotland, I 
find their pledge to be as follows : "I hereby promise to abstain 

* Since the above was written, I have laid my hand on the following resolu- 
tion of Conference : 

"Resolved, That, whereas this Conference heretofore passed a rule requiring 
the use of the port wine of commerce, in the sacrament of the Lord's supper; 
and, whereas there is now made in Canada a pure wine from the cultured grape, 
the Conference now alters the aforesaid law so as to allow the wine made in this 
country from its own produced grape, when such is preferred by any of the 
churches. — [Minutes of several Conversations, Src. ; at the Thirty-fifth 
Annual Conference, from 2d to 11th February, 1858. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 275 

from all intoxicating liquors, except in the ordinance of the 
Lord's supper, or when required as medicine." Then come 
these words : " The propriety of this attempt to imbue the 
temperance movement with more of a Christian spirit, and 
enlist in its behalf Christian men, cannot be called into ques- 
tion ; nor has the attempt proved unsuccessful." Afterwards 
the statistics of membership of this and kindred religious 
associations are given ; the recommendation to office-bearers of 
the United Presbyterian Church of Canada to become total 
abstainers on the ground of Christian expediency, is referred 
to, and the evils brought upon the church, by the dissipation of 
its members, lamented. Then comes a pithy saying of Mr. 
Vanderkiste, the author of "A Six Years' Mission among the 
Dens of London:" " We may build churches and chapels, and 
multiply schools ; but, until the drunken habits of the lower 
orders are changed, we shall never act upon them as we ought. 
While the pot-house is their church, gin their sacrament, and 
the tap-room their school-room for evening classes, how can we 
adquately act upon them for the conversion of their souls ?" 
The question for us to ask, is this : Is the gin sacrament — 
here spoken of with so much disgust and abhorrence — to be 
wondered at, when we find a little lower down in the same 
report, the following piece of reasoning, in justification of 
teetotalism : " It is not overlooked that numerous objections 
have been advanced to total abstinence. Without entering upon 
an attempted refutation of these, it appears sufficient for those 
who desire, by the means we recommend, to wipe away a reproach 
from the Christian profession, and remove a stumbling-block 
from the path of the weak, that as the Bible nowhere requires 
the use of intoxicating liquors, there can be no evil done by 
abstaining; for 'where no law is, there is no transgression.' 
The question I solemnly put to the president, secretary, and 
two hundred and eighteen ministers who signed this address, is 
simply the following: 'How can you pledge yourselves, or ask 



276 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

other ministers to pledge themselves, to drink of intoxicating 
liquor at the Lord's table, and nowhere else, except medicinally, 
when you positively declare that the Bible nowhere requires 
the use of intoxicating liquors ; and why do you not substitute 
unintoxi eating wine, for intoxicating, at the Lord's supper, 
when, by your own admission, you are at liberty to do so, and 
thus remove a stumbling-block out of the way of many consci- 
entious total abstainers, who are excluded from the Lord's table 
because they cannot defile themselves by drinking of that which 
they believe their Lord has interdicted, viz : alcoholic wine, in 
contempt of His holy commandment?" How much good the 
conclusion of this report is calculated to produce, after the above 
contradiction, I leave you to judge. The report continues : 
"In a word, we would add, give us but the universal practice of 
abstinence, among the followers of the Redeemer, and with the 
blessing of God, we predict a speedy revival of religion in the 
church, and a rapid extension of it over the world ; give us the 
energies which moderate drinking paralyzes, and the money 
which moderate drinking wastes, and the moral influence which 
moderate drinking destroys, — and with a replenished treasury, 
and an invigorated piety, we may then, and not till then, set 
ourselves hopefully to the work of the world's conversion." 

In the June number for 1859, of the Journal of the Ameri- 
can Temperance Union, which contains the paradoxical report, 
from which I have so largely quoted, there is to be found a 
letter, from which the following pathetic, piquant and racy 
remarks are extracted, relative to the pledge of the United 
Presbyterian Church allowing a salvo to drink of intoxicating 
liquor at the Lord's supper : " Now, although I must have often 
perused the words in which the promise or pledge is expressed, 
I never till now felt any peculiar mental agitation. But, what 
I may call the eye of the mind being awakened, I look again 
and again, at a strange something contained in them. Nay, J 
felt mingled emotions, between wonder and shame, and shame 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 277 

and sorrow. I said : ' Surely there must be something rotten 
in the state of Denmark,' — something which I hesitated to call 
unchristian, and yet could find no other word by which to call 
it : ■ I hereby promise to abstain from all intoxicating liquors, 
except in the ordinance of the Lord's supper." 1 A queerness 
here came over me ; I felt as if I had awakened from a dream ; 
I rubbed my eyes and read again : ' Intoxicating liquors, except 
at the Lord's supper !' Intoxicating liquors — that which is the 
bane of our country — that which, more than anything else, is 
ruining both the bodies and souls of men — the cause of crime, 
disease and death, filling our poor-houses with paupers, our jails 
with criminals, and our asylums with lunatics — and exclaimed : 
Is this a thing not to be abstained from in that ordinance which 
commemorates the death of Him, ' who gave himself a ransom 
for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify 
us unto Himself, a people zealous of good works ? Oh ! there 
is here something about which the serious mind should think 
with deep impressiveness. I will think about it, and follow the 
light that an implored and a gracious Divinity may be pleased 
to inspire me with. 

''Intoxicating liquor is used in the ordinance of the Lord's 
supper — so speaks the pledge — intoxicating liquor, the very 
nature of which is such that, because of its quality to intoxi- 
cate, it is hereby resolved on not so much as to taste it, except 
when it commemorates an event solemn beyond all that the 
mind can comprehend — and even, too, the very object of which 
was, and is, that every inducement to sin should be avoided, 
and nothing used that is either directly or indirectly hurt- 
ful to man. Surely, it is something else that should be so 
employed — something that is not simply innocuous, but highly 
beneficial. And there is such a something — not the fermented, 
brandied, intoxicating result of this fruit, but the pure, entire, 
beneficial juice of it. Gold, therefore, cannot be too dear to 
buy it for bringing before our minds in a commemorative ordi- 
24 



278 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

nance, that event—the death of the son of God, whose "blood 
was shed for the remission of sins, and by which, through faith 
in it, we will not only avoid but loathe not only the means, but 
the very idea of intoxication." 

It is from such indications as this, of the dissatisfaction of 
individual members of churches expressed in periodicals from 
time to time, that we derive our hopes of a better state of 
things approaching, more than from any perceptible movement 
towards it, in religious organizations or amongst ministers of 
the Gospel. 

In your letter to me of 2d March, 1859, you encouraged me 
by saying: "Your letters will be read with interest, and, what 
is better, without prejudice. May the Lord be with you in this 
work, and may His Spirit guide you in all charitableness towards 
those who still look upon our views with contempt." You have 
borne the burden and heat of the day, — with me, it has been a 
comparatively light matter to study the subject in quiet, undis- 
turbed by clamor, insult or opposition, except now and then a 
sneer or a cold shoulder. Not one friend, as far as I know, have 
I lost by my firm adherence to the noble cause. For this I 
thank God, who has dealt so bountifully with me. If hereafter 
called upon to fight, may I do so with "weapons not carnal, 
but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;" 
and may I manifest that spirit of meekness and forbearance 
which it becomes the disciples of the Lord to cherish, not 
only towards those who conscientiously differ from them, but 
also to their bitterest enemies, I am a novice in teetotalism, 
compared with you. 

That which might discourage many, affords me encourage- 
ment. I refer to the all but total absence of the artisans of 
Great Britain from the Lord's table. In an article in the 
" Gospel Tribune," for November, 1856, I advert to this fact in 
the following terms, which I take the liberty to introduce here. 
The writer referred to, is the Rev. John C. Miller, Honorary 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 279 

Canon of Worcester, and Eector of St. Martin's, Birmingham, 
well known and highly esteemed for the warm interest he takes 
in all practical schemes for ameliorating the condition of the 
humbler classes : 

" This esteemed clergyman, in his lecture entitled ' The Home 
Harvest,' delivered before the Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion in London, 1855-6, thus expresses himself: 'Let us look 
our work in the face ; and let us not talk of the working classes, 
and of the poor so exclusively, as to fall into the error of sup- 
posing that they only need our anxious thought and earnest 
effort. In reference to the former, I shall not rehearse in your 
ears statistics which, although they have lost none of their 
terrible importance by repetition and familiarity, are yet known 
sufficiently for my purpose to every man among us. One test, 
however, of mournful significancy and conclusiveness may be 
touched on — the testimony of our Communion tables. Excep- 
tions here and there, in no wise invalidate the fact that the 
proportion of our communicants among our artisans is abso- 
lutely ' Nil,' when set beside their numbers. I do not exagge- 
rate the importance of this test. I do not regard absence, even 
habitual absence from that Holy table as necessarily conclusive 
of spiritual death, any more than I regard habitual presence as 
necessarily conclusive of spiritual life. But surely it is a test, 
and no unimportant one ; and it is a mournful symptom of the 
spiritual indifference of the masses to their Christian duties and 
privileges, that the great bulk of them should seem to have no 
concern with the dying injunction of their Lord — no care for a 
child's place, and a child's bread at the table of their Father in 
Heaven.' Had this benevolent clergyman, free from prejudice 
in favor of an antiquated but unscriptural dogma, penetrated a 
little deeper than the surface, he would have discovered perhaps, 
that there was a substantial reason why the bulk of the working- 
men of England should absent themselves from the Communion 
table. Why they seem to have no concern with the dying 



280 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

injunction of their Lord — no care for a child's place, and a 
child's bread at the table of their Father in Heaven. It is 
a matter of notoriety that teetotalism sprang up among the 
laboring classes of society, and that there it has had its chief 
triumphs. There is much shrewd sagacity amongst them. They 
are the pith and sinews of the body politic. Kead their masterly 
essays upon the Sabbath question, if you would judge correctly 
of their intellectual and moral powers. They are not all 
addicted to strong drink — far from it. Many of them are 
sober, industrious, highly respectable men — otherwise what 
would have become of the manufactures — the commerce — the 
science — the glory of our mother country ? Ichabod would 
have been inscribed upon her deserted palaces and temples ere 
now. It is then a melancholy sign of the times that BritainV 
workmen, her mainstay, have forsaken the assembling of them- 
selves together, and sit not down to commemorate the death of 
their Saviour at His table. And yet it is in another point of 
view a consolatory sign. If we were to draw the sweeping 
conclusion from the premises, that these men disregarded the 
solemn injunction of the Lord Jesus Christ, to partake of 
unfermented bread and fruit of the vine in remembrance of 
Him, because they absented themselves from the Communion 
table — then indeed, this, their absence would, in our estimation, 
be the symptom of a fatal heart disease which they labored 
under; but if, on the other hand, we should have good grounds 
for believing that they were in the habit of separating them- 
selves from the church at the celebration of ' The Lord's 
Supper,' because they viewed the mode in which it was observed 
with highly intoxicating wine as altogether anti-scriptural, then 
we should be constrained to give them credit for conscientious- 
ness and strict adherence to the precept of their Lord, instead 
of censuring them for neglect of it. We apprehend this to be 
the truth, and we found our opinion upon the striking fact that 
about the end of the year 1847, when three prizes of £25, £15 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 281 

and £10, were offered by a philanthropic layman, for the test 
essays on the subject of the Sabbath, written by laboring men ; 
at least nine hundred and fifty were forthcoming, and appeared 
in 1848, three months after the announcement. This, we say, 
indicates a healthy state of religious feeling and principle 
amongst the working classes in regard to the Lord's day ; but 
if they are sound in regard to it, can it be believed that they 
would, almost to a man, absent themselves from the kindred 
ordinance of the Lord's supper, if they were not forcibly 
impressed with the conviction that it was not observed according 
to Christ's appointment, in the churches to which they respec- 
tively belonged ? But still farther upon this point : — Judge 
Marshall, of Nova Scotia, the devoted advocate of total absti- 
nence, in his ' Earnest Appeal on behalf of the Total Absti- 
nence Reform,' based on Scripture, addressing himself to the 
ministers of the Gospel, thus writes : 'As an additional argu- 
ment and motive to you, Reverend sirs, it may be well to inform 
you, of what, perhaps, as yet you scarcely suspect, or at least, 
it would seem, do not sufficiently know, namely, that by opposing 
or neglecting the abstinence movement, you are impairing your 
influence and usefulness, as to religious ministrations, and in 
various other respects. Many have left and are still leaving 
your churches, and are declining to attend on your ministry, 
from dissatisfaction with the course you are pursuing with 
regard to the movement, and are meeting in private, in the 
halls or other places, for religious exercises of a public descrip- 
tion, or are entirely neglecting them. It is a distressing truth, 
as all who spiritually and fully examine into the subject ascer- 
tain and admit, that the standard of religion as to vital piety 
and practical holiness is at present very imperfect and low. As 
to a revival from this state, it cannot scripturally be expected 
for many reasons that might be assigned, but most especially 
while the drinking of strong liquors so generally prevails, it 
being admitted by all, that drunkenness is, far more than all 



282 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

others, the cause of individual declensions and expulsions from 
churches.' 

*' Now, it is as clear to us as the sun at noonday, that hardly 
in any other way could the ministers of the Gospel present so 
formidable a barrier to the cause of Christ, as by their obsti- 
nate persistence in the use of highly intoxicating and drugged 
wine at the Lord's table, in direct opposition to His sacred com- 
mandment ; and we cannot doubt that many sagacious, far-seeing 
and conscientious artisans, who have adopted the principles of 
total abstinence, must have their eyes open to the gross incon- 
sistency of the office-bearers of churches dispensing such abomi- 
nable stuff at that solemn ordinance, as if it could truly represent 
that blood which cleanseth from all sin. Under these circum- 
stances, and until furnished with positive evidence that the 
Christian artisans of Great Britain en masse, absent themselves 
from the Lord's supper for some other reason, we shall feel 
ourselves justified in believing it to be highly probable that a 
large proportion of that class of men, who are intelligent 
teetotalers, do so, because their love to their Redeemer will not 
allow them to drink of intoxicating wine, or in other words, 
(and to make use of the language of inspiration,) of 'the cup 
of devils ' — the wine which ' at the last biteth like a serpent 
and stingeth like an adder ' — as the symbol of His precious 
sin- atoning blood. # 

" If these views be correct, we have grounds to look upon the 
symptom which has been brought before us by Canon Miller, as 
one, and an alarming one, too, not of disease of the class to 
which he refers, but of a special malady in the visible Church 
.of Christ, to which the distinctive appellation of ' alcoholic 

* <e It may appear startling to some who do not know the progress that true 
temperance principles are making among young Christians; but yet it is a fact, 
that numbers are excluded from the church because they cannot conscientiously 
participate in one of its ordinances. They are reluctant to imbibe intoxicating 
drink, even as a religious rite." — The Temperance Spectator, Dec. 1, 1860. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 283 

consumption' might be assigned. The church is stupified by- 
strong drink. She reels and staggers under its malign influence. 
She is paralysed, cenvulsed and eviscerated by it. It preys 
upon her very vitals. It eats out her piety. It undermines 
her constitution. I would much rather see the communion 
table deserted by the aristocracy and science of the land, than 
by the men who earn their bread by the sweat of their brow ; 
for amongst them, if anywhere, true piety is to be expected,— 
because 'the poor have the Gospel preached to them:' (Matt, 
xi, 5 :) and ' not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, 
not many noble are called ; but God hath chosen the foolish 
things of the world, and things which are despised hath God 
chosen, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that 
are:' (I Cor. i, 26-28.) 

" But although we have referred the ominous symptom, which 
we have had under consideration, to ' alcoholic consumption ' 
in the church, rather than to a diseased condition of the work- 
ing classes, yet the fact must not be ignored, that there is great 
danger of the disgust with which they view the habitual employ- 
ment of intoxicating drink at the Lord's table, in the Estab- 
lishment and other sections of the church — the consequent 
coldness and nakedness of her divers religious services, and 
her impotency in arresting the deluge of crime which overflows 
the land and threatens to submerge its most cherished insti- 
tutions and sweep away its blood-bought rights — ripening 
in them into settled aversion to all religious institutions, 
and branching out into some one or other of the proteiform 
monstrosities of modern infidelity or positive atheism. Nor 
are these bad, although they be, the only or even the greatest 
evils to be dreaded. Who can tell when 'the wrath of the 
Lamb ' may not be kindled against the people who turn a deaf 
ear to all His tender expostulations — cleaving to ' the cup of 
devils,' and reject 'the cup of salvation' — bringing upon 
them swift destruction ? The only remedy for the church, is 



284 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

at once, and forever, to banish from the sanctuary, the c wine 
wherein is excess,' (the principle of physical and moral ruin,) 
that filthy thing, which, like Achan's wedge of gold, causes 
the enemies of God to triumph, and the ranks of Immanuel to 
despond !" 

Once more — let us look to our friend, "The Times," for a 
leading idea: " The instant," says he, "people determine that 
a moral and religious principle is involved in a question, they 
are committed to fight it at all hazards." We have found that 
a moral and religious principle is involved in the question which 
we have been so long discussing, and we humbly ask the 
"Times" to aid us in bringing that principle to bear upon 
mankind. 

We appeal to "the- common people" such as heard Jesus 
"gladly," regarding it. 

We entreat you, dear friends, to look into this question 
with all the ardour, candour and intelligence, for which you 
are distinguished, — trusting that you will arrive at the same 
conclusions which we have reached, and that you will contend 
manfully for the introduction of ' unfermented fruit of the 
vine ' into the churches according to the revelation of God, as 
the only emblem of the blood of Jesus admissible at His table. 
To you, the ministers of the everlasting Gospel, of all 
denominations, holding the truth in love, and to you, the office- 
bearers of the church, we respectfully appeal in behalf of 
anti-alcoholic temperance, and we hope that our appeal shall 
not be in vain. It cannot be — we will not allow ourselves to 
harbour the ungenerous thought for one moment, that you, the 
faithful stewards of the mysteries of God, who possess such 
critical acumen, are endowed with so much learning, and burn 
with such love to souls, will lag behind any longer in this noble 
movement. ' Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like 
men, be strong ;' ' Come out boldly, and separate yourselves 
from the unclean thing ;' cast from you ' the abomination which 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 285 

maketh desolate' — the 'wine wherein is excess.' Let it no 
more defile the communion table of our Great High Priest, but 
there let ' the fruit of the vine ' in its purity represent, hence- 
forth, the precious blood of Jesus which cleanseth from all sin." 

To our brethren of the healing art, who are already disciples 
of the Anti-alcoholic School, we would address a few words of 
encouragement, and say: " Go on, dear friends, in your career 
of total abstinence, only be sure you take the Bible for your 
text-book and guide. You cannot err if you keep close to its 
doctrines and precepts in temperance, as well as every other 
department of religion and morals. Fight and conquer !" 

To those who are still lingering in the ranks of the alcoholic 
fraternity, we would say, more in sorrow than in anger : "Come 
out from among them and be ye separate. Flee for your lives ; 
the avenger of blood is at your heels. Tarry not for a moment ; 
get within the city of refuge, or you may be lost forever. Use 
no alcoholic liquor, except where it is indispensable for the cure 
of disease. Study the works of Carpenter, McCulloch, Mussey, 
Miller, Higginbottom and others. Apply 'the principles of sound 
temperance always, both in health and in disease. Valiantly 



Note. — A reformed drunkard, now a distinguished clergyman, dares not 
partake of the intoxicating Communion wine he dispenses. He passes the 
cup, after applying it to his lips, fearing the taste might revive his dormant 
appetite. 

A celebrated temperance lecturer, once intemperate, now a professing 
Christian, bows to the cup, not daring to taste, lest he fall. While a man 
continues to be a drunkard, can he be a Christian? If reformed, and he be- 
comes a Christian, should he be tempted back to his old vile habits through the 
Communion cup? If for no other reason than benevolence to the reformed 
Christian drunkard, should not the universal church unite in discarding the 
intoxicating Communion cup by substituting the fruit of the vine in a state 
free from the " mocker," which, at the last, t( biteth like a serpent and stingeth 
like an adder?" 



286 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

oppose the drinking usages at all times, — at all hazards, — and in 
every place, by deed ; and, whenever you have a favorable oppor- 
tunity, by suitable counsel and exhortation. Much depends upon 
you. After the ministers of the Gospel, you can exercise the 
greatest influence in arresting alcoholic intemperance, and rich 
will be your reward if ye continue 'faithful unto death.' 

Let it no longer be the disgrace of our profession, that so 
many of its members make themselves sots and die drunkards ! 
Will you believe it — the Rev. I. Inglis, Reformed Presbyte- 
rian minister, positively asserts : "I have now lying before me, 
a list of all the ministers whom I have either personally or 
historically known, that have died within the last twenty years 
in Scotland, and I find most lamentable to write, that every 
tenth minister has died either an excommunicated, or a 'habit 
and repute ' drunkard ! — and from a similar list of medical 
practitioners, that every third medical man has died a habit 
and repute drunkard ! — and of both professions, some others 
were reputed heavy drinkers. " # 

"We have examined the Statistical Reports on the Sickness, 
Mortality and Invaliding among the troops at the Mauritius, 
where Delirium Tremens is more prevalent and fatal than in any 
other possession of Her Majesty, and we find that one-sixteenth 
of the deaths of the soldiers in that Island was caused by that 
disease, within twenty years. It is true, others may have died 
from other diseases caused by drunkenness, and have been habit 
and repute drunkards, — but still, it indicates a heart-sickening 
degeneracy on the part of the sacred profession of the Gospel — 
of those whose duty it is to set an example of Godly liying 

* Permit me, here, to call your attention to the great benefits which would 
probably result from the re -publication of Dr. Sewall's Drawings of the 
Stomach, as affected by the us£ of intoxicating drinks, — from health, to death 
by Delirium Tremens. If the publishers could introduce them into this work, 
as I understand they are out of print, they would afford admirable illustra- 
tions of our theme, and practical lessons adapted to all in every age and country, 
to shun "the wine, wherein is excess, •" as the bane of humanity. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 287 

before their flocks, — and on that of the men who ought to be 
at all times capable of exercising the clearest judgment, and 
performing the most delicate and dangerous operations — to find 
that drunkenness prevails to such a ruinous extent amongst 
them, approximating, if not exceeding that of the profession 
held ordinarily to be the most dissipated of any, that of arms. 
If either of the professions, of the Gospel or of medicine, in 
Scotland, can disprove these allegations, it is plainly their duty 
and their interest to do so. If they cannot, it is high time for 
them to 'repent and bring forth fruits meet for repentance ;' 
and they may rest assured, that while these facts remain uncon- 
tradicted, and therefore presumed to be well grounded, they must 
suffer in their reputation, and have their usefulness seriously 
impaired." # 

In a speech by E. Dawson, Esq., J. P., Aldcliffe Hall, (near 
Lancaster,) it is stated that " out of twelve medical men who 
studied in the same University, as his doctor, not one was 
living, — the whole having died early in life through drink.*' t 

If these things be so in respect to the doctors, the awful 
questions arise : How many of their patients died natural 
deaths ? how many filled drunkard's graves ? how many are in 
hell lifting up their eyes in torment ? Let us ponder these 
things, and combine our most strenuous exertions to get this 
foul blot washed out of our professional escutcheon. Let our 
crest, instead of the intoxicating cup, (too long our badge,) 
henceforth be a cluster of ripe grapes, with the Scriptural 
motto, " Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it." 

To you, the learned members of the legal profession, we look 
with confidence for support in this crusade against alcohol, for 
few have better opportunities than you of knowing what an 
appalling amount of crime is produced by it. We might refer 
you to Judges, and other high legal authorities for proof that 

*The Scottish Temperance Review, February, 1852: p. 60. 
t The Alliance Weekly News, September 29, 1860. 



288 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

two-thirds of the crimes which are committed in England and 
America, spring from this source. 

We point you to the illustrious names of A'Beckett, the 
Chief Justice of Victoria ; to Judge Crampton, in Ireland ; 
to Warren, the Recorder of Hull ; Hill, the Recorder of 
Birmingham ; Pope, the Secretary of the United Kingdom 
Alliance, as holding high rank in the temperance army ; but 
we chiefly wish to draw your attention to that admirable man, 
Lord Brougham, — himself a host, — who, for the last sixty 
years, has occupied so prominent a place in the history of his 
country and of the world — "the observed of all observers." 
Whether we fix our eyes upon him as a lawyer, orator, statesman, 
philosopher, patriot or philanthropist, he stands almost unri- 
valled. See what he has done for jurisprudence, — what for 
government, — what for education, — what for emancipation of 
the slave, — what for social science, — what for temperance, — 
and say does he not deserve to be classed, in all these respects, 
amongst the most illustrious benefactors of his species ? 

When the daughter of his deceased friend, Sir James Mack- 
intosh, hung over the couch of her dying father, eager to catch 
some expression which might console her with the hope that he 
was going to glory, it is said, he gave utterance to the following 
never to be forgotten words : " Jesus — Love — the same thing." 

May Henry, Lord Brougham, have all his earthly excellencies 
crowned with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus, to the 
praise of the glory of His grace. May his last days be pre- 
eminently his best days, because devoted to the Saviour. May 
he yet, by his decided testimony for Jesus, be the instrument 
of "turning many to righteousness;" and may he shine as a 
star of the first magnitude and purest lustre, forever and ever 1 

The following are characteristic specimens of his masterly 
eloquence in 1839, where he addressed the House of Lords, 
upon the sale of the Beer Repeal Bill of which he was the mover ; 
and, in 1860, when, as President of the Social Science Congress, 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 289 

at Glasgow, lie gave a clear statement of his views respecting a 
prohibitory liquor law. 

Having recapitulated a vast mass of evidence as to the results 
of the beer-house system in all parts of the country, Lord 
Brougham proceeds to say : 

" With respect to the effects of beer-shops upon the morals 
of the people, he was in possession of some of the most grievous 
and distressing facts. Hardly a petition came to him that was 
not accompanied by a letter either from a magistrate, a grand- 
juror, an overseer, a high- constable, or a reverend clergyman, all 
stating facts similar to what he was about to detail, and they 
were only to be taken as a sample. . . . Examples were 
given, too shocking for him to read to the House, of the most 
abhorrent cases of female prostitution, and of such profligacy 
and crapulous vice as he had never read or heard of before. 

To what good, or with what consistency, should the 
clergy occupy themselves in inculcating piety and morals on 
the Sunday and visiting their parishioners, in order to tend 
their flocks and keep them in the right path ? — to what good 
was it, that the Legislature should pass laws to punish crime, 
or that their lordships should occupy themselves in finding out 
modes of improving the morals of the people by giving them 
education ? — what, in the name of Heaven, could be the use of all 
the education they could bestow ? — what the use of sowing a little 
seed here, and plucking up a weed there, if these beer-shops 
were to be continued, that they might go on to sow the seeds, not 
of ignorance, but of that which was ten times worse — immorality 
broadcast over the land, germinating the most frightful produce 
that ever had been allowed to grow up in a civilized country, and, 
he was ashamed to add, under the fostering care of Parliament, 
and throwing baleful influences over the whole community ?" 

On the same day, in the House of Lords, Viscount Melbourne, 
the Prime Minister, announced the intention of the Cabinet to 
resign, in consequence of a hostile vote of the House of Commons 
25 



290 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

on the question of the suspension of the Jamaica Constitution. 
On this announcement being given, Lord Brougham made the 
following memorable remarks : 

" My lords, after what has fallen from the noble lord, I shall 
postpone the second reading of the Beer Bill, although I consider 
that bill to be of more importance, as regards the public morals, 
than the resignation of any ministry. I do not apprehend' that 
any Legislature will be so wanting in a due regard to what I 
hold to be the highest functions of the Legislature — namely, 
superintending the morals, the instruction, and the welfare of 
the people under their care — as to allow any mere party feeling, 
any temporary, and, it may be, only momentary, gratification 
of those feelings, to interfere with what I hold to be the highest 
duty of the Senate in this country. My lords, I hold this bill, 
the repealing the Sale of Beer Act, to be of greater moment than 
any party question that can divide either House of Parliament ; 
and I shall persist, whoever holds the office of Minister of this 
country, in my endeavors to obtain the repeal of a measure 
which I believe to be permanently fraught with mischief to the 
character of the country." 

On the 3d of June, Lord Brougham moved the second reading 
of the Beer Act Repeal Bill, and delivered an able and eloquent 
speech, from which we take the following passages. Referring 
to the Temperance societies, his lordship said : 

" Why should the noble duke (of Wellington,) or his noble 
friend opposite, enter into a society binding themselves not to 
drink spirits, when they had the perfect power of drinking their 
claret, burgundy, and champagne ? He knew plenty of persons 
who would have no objections to enter into those societies, but 
they said they would not be guilty of such hypocrisy as to 
declare that ardent spirits should not be drank, when they felt 
certain that they could continue to enjoy their wine. He himself 
felt strongly the objection to drinking ardent spirits. They 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 291 

were the parent of crimes of the worst description, as the police 
reports showed — namely, crimes accompanied with violence." 

Lord Brougham, in his reply, adverted to the thin attendance 
in the House, and the absence of the bishops — only two of 
whom were in their places. This reply was very caustic, but 
well deserved. He was sorry to see, from the aspect of the 
House, that the present critical hour had had the effect of sadly 
thinning their lordships' numbers. Their lordships liked the 
Beer Bill little, but they liked remaining in the House after 
half-past 7 o'clock less. Their lordships liked to see a good 
state of morality in the country — the tranquil order of society 
they dearly loved — it was the very apple of their eye ; but there 
was another affection operating upon certain delicate organs in 
the constitution of noble lords, still more intimately than those 
connected with the peace, order and purity of society, and 
reminding them of what had been called the most important 
event of existence — that of dinner. . . . There is hardly 
a bishop whom I have not heard imploring your lordships, from 
this very place, for God's sake to apply a remedy to that which 
makes all our preaching and teaching vain, to reform these 
nests of drunkenness, to remove these moral plagues — and now 
that I come forward at their instigation, that I lend myself as 
their coadjutor, that I put myself as an humble instrument in the 
hands of morality and religion, but two, out of six-and-twenty 
right reverend prelates, will sacrifice their dinner, their regard 
for their belly, which is their God. 

The noble lord was called to order by the Marquis of Salisbury, 
who moved that the noble and learned lord's words be taken 
down. Lord Brougham responded by saying, that in order that 
they might correctly be taken down, he had better repeat them, 
when considerable confusion ensued, two or three noble lords 
speaking at once. Lord Brougham explained his meaning, by 
saying: " Well, well, my lords, to oblige my noble friend, 
(Salisbury,) I will say this, that the bench of bishops, at whose 



292 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

instigation I brought this subject forward, have, out of their 
earnest regard to the morals of the community, sacrificed all 
personal considerations and have attended during this discussion, 
by two of their body — I can't go further. And I, having the 
greatest veneration for the bishops, a respect for them, in which 
I don't yield to my noble friend opposite, I felt peculiar pain 
in not seeing more than two, out of twenty-six, present on this 
occasion. But my noble friend is content with two only ; I, on 
the contrary, would fain see the whole twenty-six here, for if 
they were here they would all vote for the bill." 

The Bishop of Chichester rose to repel the unwarrantable 
attack that had been made on the bench of bishops, and was 
called to order by .Lord Ellenborough ; and after a brisk 
altercation the House divided. Contents, 36 ; non-contents, 
19 ; majority for the bill, 17. The two bishops (Bangor and 
Chichester,) and the Duke of Wellington, were among the 
contents. 

Thus ended that remarkable debate. The Beer Act still 
curses the country. Beer-houses are an established^ pest— a 
legalized pollution ; and the " old man eloquent " is still calling 
upon the country to apply a remedy. Having lost faith in the 
bishops, the magistrates and the excise, Lord Brougham now 
joins with the United Kingdom Alliance in the grand remedy — 
the giving to the people the power to prohibit their greatest 
curse and source of misery. If the people will to abolish 
the liquor- traffic, who ought to resist that decision ? Will the 
Bishops, the House of Commons, or the Government, refuse to 
yield this power to the people ? If so, on them the responsibility 
must rest. 



[From Lord Brougham's Address to the Social Science Congress, at Glasgow, 
Monday, September 23, I860.] 

4 'At our last Congress, great attention was given to the 
important subject of Temperance, and especially to the necessity 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 293 

of preparing public opinion for those repressive measures which 
experience daily proves, more and more clearly, to be required 
for lessening the consumption of spirituous liquors. The great 
source of pauperism and of crimes has hitherto only been attacked 
by palliatives ; and, although these have had a certain success, 
yet if there be any means not exposed to serious objections by 
which the evil may be extirpated, the gain to society would be 
incalculable. No measure of absolute repression can, of course, 
be recommended until the public mind has been not only 
prepared, but strongly inclined for it. But the proposal of the 
Grand Alliance # well deserves a careful consideration — the 
plan of enabling a certain proportion of the inhabitants in 
every district — a proportion considerably above the commercial 
majority — to give the magistrates authority for placing the 
district under a general repressive act, passed with such modi- 
fications as, according to the act's provisions, may be allowed in 
the peculiar local circumstances. A very extensive adhesion has 
been given to the proposal, in the great districts of Manchester 
and Birmingham ; and this, besides its intrinsic merits, will be 
quite sufficient to cause a searching examination by our depart- 
ments, sanitary and of jurisprudence. That it deeply concerns 
both, need not be added. But which of all our departments 
does it not most deeply concern ? Remember the memorable 
expression of that great philanthropist, our eminent colleague, 
the Recorder of Birmingham : 'Whatever step I take,' says 
Mr. Hill, ' and into whatever direction I may strike, the drink 
demon starts up before me, and blocks the way.' 

" When Lord Melbourne, in the House of Lords, during the 
debate on the Sale of Beer Act Repeal Bill, told their assembled 
lordships that, do what they might to regulate public houses, 
' riot and disorder would be found in such places ' — that, in fact, 

*At this point his lordship, looking up from his written notes, added, t€ The 
United Kingdom Alliance;" thus obviating the possibility of misconception of 
his meaning. 



294 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

to breed and foster crime ' was the nature of the thing ' — he 
gave utterance to a great philosophical truth, which has been 
notoriously confirmed by the sad experience of every country 
under heaven, where the making and selling of intoxicating 
beverages has had the sanction and been protected by the civil 
power." 

Finally, we commend Anti-alcoholic Temperance, with its 
Divine precepts, doctrines and motives, as revealed in the 
Bible, to the attentive study of all of both sexes, of every 
class, age and country, as fraught with unspeakable blessings 
to mankind, and as manifesting, in a way hitherto obscurely if 
at all perceived, the power, wisdom and goodness of God. 

And here, let us set up our Ebenezer, saying: "Hitherto 
hath the Lord helped us." 

"We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God 
we will set up our banners : The Lord fulfil all thy petitions. 
. Some trust in chariots, and some in horses : but we will 
remember the name of the Lord our God :" Psalm xx, 5, 7. 

" Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine 
holy things : they have put no difference between the holy and 
profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean 
and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths, and 
I am profaned among them:" Ezekiel xxii, 26. 

"Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, 
that they may be ashamed of their iniquities : and let them 
measure the pattern. And if they be ashamed of all that they 
have done, shew them the form of the house and the fashion 
thereof, and the goings out thereof and the comings in thereof, 
and all the forms thereof and all the ordinances thereof, and 
all the forms thereof and all the laws thereof: and write it in 
their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof and all 
the ordinances thereof, and do them. This is the law of the 
house : Upon the top of the mountain, the whole limit thereof 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 295 

round about, shall be most holy. Behold this is the law of the 
house:" Ezekiel xliii, 10-12. 

"A son honoreth his father, and a servant his master; if, 
then, I be a father, where is mine honor ? and if I be a master, 
where is my fear ? saith the Lord of hosts unto you, priests, 
that despise my name. And ye say, wherein have we despised 
thy name ? Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar, and ye 
say, wherein have we polluted thee ? In that ye say, the table 
of the Lord is contemptible. And if ye offer the blind for 
sacrifice, is it not evil ? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it 
not evil ? Offer it now unto thy governor : will he be pleased 
with thee, or accept thy person ? saith the Lord of hosts. 
And now, I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious 
unto us : this hath been by your means ; will He regard your 
persons ? saith the Lord of hosts. Who is there even among 
you that would shut the doors for nought ? neither do ye kindle 
fire on my altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you, saith 
the Lord of hosts : neither will I accept an offering at your 
hand. For from the rising of the sun even unto the going 
down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles, 
and in every 'place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a 
pure offering, for my name shall be great among the heathen, 
saith the Lord of hosts :" Malachi i, 6-11. 

" Neither shall any priest drink wine, when they enter into 
the inner court. Neither shall they take for their wives a 
widow, nor her that is put away : but they shall take maidens 
of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow that had a priest 
before. And they shall teach my people the difference between 
the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the 
unclean and the clean. And in controversy they shall stand in 
judgment, and they shall judge it according to my judgments, 
and they shall keep my laws and my statutes, in all mine 
assemblies, and they shall hallow my Sabbaths :" Ezekiel xliv, 
21-24. 



296 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

" Thus saith the Lord, as the new wine is found in the 
cluster, and (one) saith, Destroy it not ; for a blesing (is) in 
it : so will I do for my servants' sakes, that I may not destroy 
them all* And I ivill bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and 
out of Judah, an inheritor of my mountains, and mine elect 
shall inherit it, and my servants shall divell there. 
For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth : and the 
former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be 
ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create : for behold 
I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I 
will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in my people : and the voice 
of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of 
crying. There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor 
an old man that hath not filled his days : for the child shall die 
an hundred years old : but the sinner being an hundred years 
old, shall be accursed. And they shall build houses and inhabit 
them, and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. 
They shall not build, and another inhabit ; they shall not plant, 
and another eat: for as the days of a tree, are the days of my 
people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. 
They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble ; for 
they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring 
with them. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I 
will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. 
The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall 
eat straw like the bullock, and dust shall be the serpent's meat. 
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith 
the Lord :" Isaiah lxv, 8-9 : 17-25. 

" There shall be an handful of corn in the earth, upon the top 
of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon, 
and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth. His 
name shall endure forever : His name shall be continued as long 
as the sun, and men shall be blessed in Him: all nations shall 
call Him blessed. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 297 

who only doeth wondrous things. And blessed be His glorious 
name forever and ever, and let the whole earth be filled with 
His glory ; Amen, and Amen :" Psalm lxxii, 16-19. 

If we should never see each other "face to face" in this 
world, may we meet in the holy, heavenly Jerusalem, with the 
multitude which no man can number, and there drink of the 
fruit of the vine "new," with Him who loved us and gave 
Himself for us. 

Farewell — farewell, — " The Lord bless thee and keep thee; 
the Lord make His face to shine upon thee, and be gracious 
unto thee, and give thee peace," 

Is the earnest supplication of 

JOHN MAIR. 




<At the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder.' Prov. xxiii, 32. 



BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 



299 



From the London Temperance Spectator, February 1, 1861. 

The Weekly Record's Recantation on the Biblical Wine Question. 

It will be in the recollection of our readers, that, about a year ago, we were 
under the painful necessity of taking the Weekly Record to task, for the danger- 
ous and inconsistent character of its teaching, on the Scriptural wine question. 

The lapse of a year has worked a change, it seems, in the views of our 
contemporary; or, perchance, some patent eye -salve has given to its optics 
more clearness and strength of vision. In order that our readers may judge 
for themselves of the greatness of the chan e, we bring into juxtaposition the 
ipsissima dicta of the two periods, thirteen months apart : — 

[Weekly Record, Nov. 26, 1859.] 

"With respect to the nature or 
'quality ' of the wine [at Cana,] we 
would offer no opinion. The plain 
inference is, that it was such wine as 
was usually drank, and of the best 
kind. We think it presumptuous to 
affirm or deny that it was different to 
other wines; and the trouble which 
many persons have taken to prove 
that this or that wine mentioned in 
Scripture was not alcoholic, militates 
rather against than for that total 
abstinence which they advocate [ ! ?] . 
From the examples, the precepts, 
the similitudes, and the denunciations 
which we meet with from Genesis to 
Revelation, relative to drunkenness, 
every plain and unsophisticated reader 
of his Bible must come to the conclu- 
sion, that the ancient wines of Pales- 
tine and other countries were alcoholic. 
We can say for ourselves, that we shall 
continue to read our Bible without a 
teetotal translation : and when we come 
to the word ' wine,' we shall not stop 
to inquire whether it was red or white, 
intoxicating or unintoxicating, as those 
have done who have shown themselves 
i wise above that which is written,' and 
have labored to darken counsel by 
words without knowledge. . . If we 
wrote daily for the next twenty years, 
as to its 'qualities,' we should only 
show, as others have done, our extreme 
ignorance, not to say our vanity and 
presumption — we had almost written, 
our impiety, in passing our judgment 



[Weekly Record, Jan. 5, 1861.] 
"We are by no means certain that 
our Lord ever sanctioned, by his own 
practice, the use of intoxicating liquor 
of any kind ; but we are quite sure that 
he did not sanction the kind of wines 
in common use in the present day. Wc 
are quite prepared to admit, that not 
only did intoxicating wines exist in 
those days, but that many people were 
the victims of intemperance ; but we 
think it equally certain, that many of 
the wines of the ancients did not possess 
the power of intoxication ; and, in the 
absence of clearer evidence, it seems 
not at all unreasonable to conclude that 
our Saviour sanctioned the use of the 
safer and more harmless class of beve- 
rages ; and, as regards the institution 
of the Lord's Supper, it should be re- 
membered that all leaven and ferment 
were scrupulously excluded at the time 
of Ihe Passover. . . It may, there- 
fore, be a question, whether our trans- 
lators have given us the correct idea 
[as to 'drunken,' in I Cor. xi, 21.] 
Suppose, however, that our authorized 
version is the best, the passages under 
consideration do not say much in favor 
of intoxicating drinks, nor ought they 
to be regarded as giving a sanction of 
their moderate use. In conclusion, we 
are by no means prepared to admit that 
the Bible gives its high and holy sanc- 
tion to usages which are fraught with 
danger to the physical, social, moral 
and religious interests of thousands of 
our fellow-men." 



on the wine which our Lord so miraculously created. We are willing to leave 
the subject where we find it, and to read that, and every other passage of 
Scripture where wine is mentioned, just as we did before we were favored 
with the learned opinions and Hebrew criticism of our teetotal expositors." 



300 BIBLICAL TEMPERANCE. 

(i Do we complain, then, that the Weekly Record has thus read its recanta- 
tion? Undoubtedly not. We the rather rejoice that it has yielded to the 
force of evidence, which, however, was precisely as forcible in November, 
1859, as in January, 1861 ; but we have two very serious causes of complaint 
against the Weekly Record, which we have to urge in a spirit, not of petulance, 
but of honest displeasure. First of all, why has our contemporary made this 
grand revolution, without a hint of its being a revolution at all?. Granting it 
sincere in 1859, and equally sincere now, was it not a duty to have admitted 
its former error — in short, not to have recanted only, but to have shown repent- 
ance by at least a confession of previous error? Could it not have done what 
the Westminster Review has had the manliness to avow? Secondly, in the 
very act of coming over to those whom it formerly abused, the abuse is persist- 
ently continued. ,} 

James Miller, F.R.S.E., F.R.C.S.E.; Surgeon in Ordinary to the Queen, 
for Scotland ; Surgeon in Ordinary to His Royal Highness, Prince Albert, for 
Scotland; Professor of Surgery in the University of Edinburgh, &c, on unfer- 
mented wine, remarks : (( Some people have great difficulty in understanding 
how anything can be really called ( wine ' which is unfermented, such is the 
strength of prejudice and custom. They see only the fermented wine now, 
and they cannot fancy the possibility of any other, either now or formerly. 
c How will it keep?' they say. Not long ago, I made the acquaintance of an 
extensive vine -grower, on the Moselle. ( Have you any unfermented wine — 
juice of the grape?" said I. ( Tons !' said he. i How old?' tf Some of it fully 
ten years.' And then he went on to explain two modes of preserving it, in its 
pure 3 natural, unfermented state — one by the boiling process ; another by the 
6 sulphur cure ' — both precisely as practised in olden times. The latter he 
preferred : filling the cask nearly full, then burning sulphur in the empty por- 
tion, and whilst the fumes were still there, fastening all tightly by the bung. 
So it was kept unfermented, for mixing subsequently with the fermenting 
gTape-juice, to constitute the sparkling wines peculiar to that district. There 
need be no difficulty, then, in understanding how not only the recent juice of 
the grape, ere any fermentation shall have had time to begin, may be harm- 
lessly drunk in the grape season, by young or old." 

Let farmers try the (i sulphur cure" with their new cider as taken from 
the vat, and see if they cannot have pure, unfermented, wrtintoxicating cider 
the year round, for a healthful beverage, or for culinary purposes. 

UNFERMENTED WINE. 

Pure unfermented wine, manufactured by J. Reynolds, Ripley, Ohio, from 
the Catawba Grape, by a new method to prevent fermentation, which is per- 
fectly effective, and does not in any respect injure the wine. Experienced 
chemists have given it a thorough test, and find no alcohol. 

We have received twelve pages of Certificates from Rev. Dr. Duffield, of 

Detroit ; space only allows giving one : 

Cincinnati, December 6, 1859. 
We, the undersigned, having examined a specimen of the Unfermented 
Wine, manufactured by J. Reynolds, of Ripley, Ohio, cheerfully testify that, 
in our judgment, its adaptation to Communion purposes is unequalled. 
H. A. Tracy, Dis. Sec. A. B. C. F. M. 
B. F. Morris, Pastor of the Cong. Church, Lebanon, Ohio, 
H. Bushnell, Pastor of the Storrs Cong. Church. 
Matthew Gardner, Elder in the Christian Church, Ripley, O. 



DIAGRAMS 



STOMACH AS AFFECTED BY ALCOHOL. 



BY THE LATE 



DR. SEWALL, OF WASHINGTON, D. C 



Orders for the work will be promptly filled by 

C. VAN BENTHUYSEN, Albany. 



THE STOMACH IN VAKIOUS STAGES, 

From Healtli to Death., "by Delirium. Tremens. 

These diagrams are taken from drawings made from actual 
dissections in 1842, by Dr. Sewall, of Washington, D. C. 

Perfect accuracy is not claimed, as no two "cases would proba- 
bly present exactly the same appearance ; but it is claimed that 
they give a truthful illustration of the ravages resulting from 
the introduction of the poison alcohol into the healthful stomach, 
and forever settle the question that the injury commences with 
the first glass — with the moderate (falsely termed temperate) 
use of this poison. 

Before these representations were submitted to the public in 
1842, those celebrated surgeons, Dr. Warren, of Boston, Dr. 
Mott, of New York, and Dr. Horner, of Philadelphia, endorsed 
them. In 1843, after a lengthened discussion as to the princi- 
ple more especially involved in the second stomach in the series, 
the same distinguished anatomists re-endorsed them, and recom- 
mended their universal circulation for the instruction of all 
classes. 



WESTMINSTER REVIEW, LONDON. 

This influential Review, in 1855, defended the moderate use of alcohol in 
healtli, as necessary, indeed, as food for the body. Prof. Youmans, and others, 
of the United States, and learned writers in Great Britain, exposed the fallacy 
of this position. 

Now, in 1860, this same Journal magnanimously acknowledges that recent 
scientific French investigators of the highest rank, have exploded this doctrine, 
asserting that alcohol is a poison, and always pernicious as a beverage in health. 
By the use of alcohol, they say : <( The pathological alterations are very vivid 
inflammation of the mucous membrane of the stomach." 

"Very lately," says Dr. James McCulloch, of Scotland, iC Messrs Lallemand, 
Perrin and Duroy in France, and Dr. Edward Smith, L.L.B., F.R.S., in Lon- 
don, have published a number of carefully conducted experiments, and most 
important discoveries, proving that alcohol undergoes no change in the body, 
it being expelled unchanged by the lungs, skin and kidneys;' 5 and that, in the 
words of Dr. Smith, " it should be prescribed medicinally, as carefully as 
any other poisonous agent." 

The British Medical Journal, lately in a leader, appears willing to accept 
the improved scientific status quo as touching alcohol. It says : (i The subject 
of the use of alcohol is daily becoming one of more importance. The question 
of its influence on the body in health is being daily canvassed by the chemist 
and physiologist ; and, as far as their lights reach, it would seem that not 
only is alcohol not of service to the body, but is actually injurious."' 



JXIAiUa^I^ Oi'THK CT1Q.IA:.C'HI LY VARWVH f OXlllTJUSS , 




Healthful. 



Moderate Brmkiiii. . 



Druifcirds 



Ulcerous. 




After a lone Debauch. 







Death "by Delirium Tremens 



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